


Happiness For All

by kiwidragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-06-17 19:07:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15468027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwidragon/pseuds/kiwidragon
Summary: ~An Altean Lance x Galra Keith Voltron Re-Write~~Note: there is Klance! But it takes a while! Be patient lovely readers!~Pidge and Hunk are students at the Galaxy Garrison when a pod crashes down and they find Shiro, the missing pilot of the Kerberos mission. The two take Shiro and run from the Garrison, only to find the blue lion and the frozen Prince Lance of Altea. After waking him up, Lance tries to take them to Altea, but when they find the castle on a planet called Arus the four realize that the Galra Empire still stands stronger than ever and they must reform Voltron. But with Lance and his sister Allura's fights, Pidge's missing family, Shiro's traumatic past, Hunk's fear, and the mysterious red Paladin no one talks about, will the paladins ever find happiness for everyone in the universe?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, this is my first work here, but not my first time writing.  
> I have a lot of pre-written chapters, so expect regular updates in the beginning.
> 
> This is written in Pidge's perspective, with some Lance chapters here and there, but it will eventually switch into mostly Lance.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> No characters are mine, neither is the plot of Voltron or the Galra Keith/Altean Lance concept.  
> But my plot and writing is! So please, don't steal it and enjoy reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, this is my first work here!  
> Just in time for Lance's Birthday!  
> Enjoy!

Pidge POV

 

“Hunk! The garrison is going to kick us out of we don't find a new pilot soon!” I frustratedly yelled at Hunk as I stormed out of our room.

 

We were roommates at the Galaxy Garrison, a space exploration company that teaches kids and teenagers like Hunk and I to be space explorers. There needed to be three people on a team, a pilot, and engineer, and a communications expert. Hunk and I were a team, but our pilot got in to underage drinking and got expelled. Ah teenagers, prime examples of stupidity.  The Garrison only excepted the best out of school, so there weren't any people to fill in for our pilot. Hunk and I had already gotten in trouble before so they wouldn't be too sad to kick us out. But I pleaded enough and said I was still in touch with some of my brother’s overseas tech friends, so I could see if I could find someone for the Garrison, but it was hard to find a time that worked for everyone, and I had been slacking off from school work because of it, and so the teachers even more mad at me.

 

Hunk had been trying to get me off my computer and I got really upset. He didn't understand why the Garrison meant so much to me. My father and brother were on a Garrison mission a year ago. They were sent to Kerberos, one of pluto’s moons. But then they, and their pilot, strangely disappeared. The Garrison said they died, but I didn't, no, couldn't believe it. I kept sneaking into the Garrison to try to find information. Then they kicked me out. But here I am now. I had to change my identity, and if I got kicked out again, after all I have done to get here? I couldn't take it.

 

Like I always did when I got frustrated, I went up to the roof with my computers. Once again, I hacked into the alien radio channel I found and listened. Voltron. Voltron. Voltron. They kept repeating that word. I had no idea what is was, but it seemed like these guys really wanted to get it.

 

I closed my eyes and listened to the aliens. They spoke in a different language so I couldn't understand. Somehow the strange syllables calmed me. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped. I ripped off my headphones and turned around. Hunk stood there, nervously twisting hands and looking apologetic.

 

“Hey Pidge. I came up here to say sorry and invite you to get a snack, but what you have is cooler. That doesn't look like Garrison tech. What is it?” He sat down and started to poke my computer.

 

I slapped his and away. “Don't touch my stuff. And I built it. I said don't touch!!” I glared at him. “I picked up a signal. From aliens.” Hunk looked horrified. “They keep repeating one word. Voltron. I think it's some kind of weapon.”

 

“What!! There are aliens? And there trying to get a space weapon? Can we just get food? Let the Garrison deal with it?” I shook my head.

 

“No Hunk, this is real.  We have to- woah.”

 

“What is that! A meteor?” Hunk pointed into the sky where a purple object was screaming through the sky. I pulled out my binoculars.

“No, it looks like a ship. And it's not one of ours.” I fired up my drone and sent it toward the crashed pod. Then I started to pack up my stuff.

 

“Come on Hunk! We have to go see it!” I started to climb down the ladder to get down to ground level. Hunk groaned and followed after.

 

I passed some of my stuff to Hunk and kept running to the crash site. We found a nearby cliff and set my stuff down I started to access the drone footage.

 

“Hunk this is crazy. The Garrison isn't here so we might be the first people to meet aliens!” I hoped that I could use this to find my family.

 

“I don't know Pidge, maybe we could just head back.”

 

“Holy crow! Look Hunk. That's the pilot of the Kerberos mission! Where's the rest of the crew?” My drone was looking at Takashi Shirogane splayed out in the middle of the burning pod.

 

“Should we go get him?” Hunk asked.

 

“Yeah. Who knows what the Garrison will do. We both know they are pretty sketchy.” He nodded and I started putting my computers in my backpack. Soon my drone was back and in my bag.

 

Hunk and I started down the cliff. We were about to walk into the open when we heard cars. I peaked around the rock in front of us. The Garrison. Hunk looked as well and then groaned. Soon the jeeps had parked and the lights were off. Hunk pointed to the pod and then at himself. He was going in. Then he pointed at me and then a jeep. I nodded.

 

Hunk ran into the pod and I set off a flare. All the Garrison officers came running to behind the rock. I went to the abandoned jeeps. Quickly I disabled all but one and got in. The Hunk came running out, holding an unconscious Shiro. Only Shiro. He got in.

 

“Where's the rest of the crew?” I said.

 

“Only he was in there. Now go!” The Garrison had noticed us and had came running.

 

My tiny legs couldn't reach the pedals, so I sat in the back holding Shiro while Hunk drove. We sped down the desert sand and the Garrison soon came chasing after. Too late I spotted the cliff we were heading towards. I started to scream and held tighter to Shiro. He groaned and opened his eyes.

 

“What? W-where am I?” He asked.

 

“You're back on Earth and you're being rescued hold on tight-ahhhh!” Hunk screamed.

  
Hunk tried to stop us but we flew full speed off the cliff. Hunk and I screamed while Shiro just looked confused. _Well, at least we lost the Garrison,_ I thought before I blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> This chapter was just in time for Lance's birthday! He wasn't in it, but happy birthday to my favorite blue boy!
> 
> Next chapter will be out soon and feel free to leave constructive criticism or compliments on the comments!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is up really soon!  
> I'm just so excited to share my work with you readers, and I do have a bunch of chapters pre-written.  
> Enjoy!

I woke up and opened my eyes. The mutilated jeep was laying in a heap a couple meters to my left. Being the lightest, I had been thrown off when we crashed. Hunk was still in the driver's seat and Shiro was half under the car. I ran to Hunk and shook him. He rubbed his head and looked at me.

 

“Am I dead?”

 

“No! Now come help me with Shiro.” He climbed out of the jeep and walked to the back. We barely lifted the car enough to get Shiro out.

 

“Come on Shiro! Wake up!” Hunk shook him slightly.

 

“You again? Who are you?” He sat up and winced.

 

“I'm Pidge and this is Hunk. We are students at the Galaxy Garrison.” I said.

 

“You came crashing down in a alien pod thingy and we didn't want the Garrison to get you so we rescued you. And accidentally drove off a cliff.” Hunk continued.

 

“Oh. Thanks. The Garrison does have some odd protocols.” Shiro smiled. 

 

“Where were you? You were gone for a year.” Hunk asked.

 

“I don't know, my memories are pretty scrambled.” Shiro looked sadly down.

 

“I know that we were captured by aliens and this happened.” he said, moving around his right arm, which had been replaced with a robotic prosthetic. “They were looking for this Voltron thing. It was very strange. I think I escaped, but other than that I don't know.”

 

“Do you know where the rest of the crew is?”

 

“Uhh guys? I think the Garrison found us.” Hunk pointed to the cliff, were Garrison officers were starting to climb down.

 

“Lets go!” Shiro yelled. 

 

We started running in a random direction. I glanced to the right and saw the indigo and blue of twilight appearing behind a jagged cliff line, with the first stars twinkling into my vision. Some odd energy seemed to radiate from that direction. 

 

“Guys do you feel that?” Hunk yelled.

 

“Yeah I think we have to go that way!” I pointed towards the dark blue sky behind the cliffs.

 

Hunk and Shiro nodded and changed direction. We ran to the cliffs. When we got to the base of one of the spires we looked to the sky beyond. The last magenta fingers of light were just disappearing below the horizon. Suddenly we heard the Garrison behind us.

 

“Stop and put your hands up. We are about to commence net fire.”

 

“Net fire?” yelled Hunk.

 

“Come on! Go! To that cave!” Yelled Shiro.

 

We quickly ran down the slope to the mouth of the cave with huge rope nets starting to be thrown behind us. I dove into the cave behind the others. The Garrison raced past us. We were safe.

 

“Well that was close.” Hunk said.

 

I nodded, looking at the strange carvings on the cave wall.

“Guys look at these weird carvings on the wall. It looks like a lion.” I said

 

“Maybe it has something to do with… Voltron.”

 

When Shiro said that the carvings glowed blindingly blue and the floor opened. We all started yelling as we were pitched downwards into a chute. The chute dumped us into an underground cavern. Waterfalls fell from the ceiling and emptied into large pools. Deep green vines adorned in blue flowers snaked across the walls and floor. But the most magnificent thing was the robotic blue lion in the center of the room. It towered above us, but separated itself from us with a spherical force field.

 

I looked at Hunk. His eyes were huge and his mouth was open. Shiro looked surprised. He noticed me and met my gaze.

 

“Do you think this is the Voltron?” I asked. As soon as I said it I got a vision. I saw a huge robot, it was vaguely humanoid, and had a different color for each limb. The blue lion in front of me formed the right leg, and four other lions formed the other parts. This was a part of Voltron. 

 

“Did you guys see that?” Shiro asked.

 

“Yeah. Voltron is a robot. A huge, awesome robot.” Hunk said.

 

“There are five lions. This is only one part.” I said.

 

“We should get in and see if it has any information about the other lions.” Shiro started to walk up to the lion, but his foot made contact with something metal and he jumped away, cursing under his breath.

 

“What was that? Are you okay?” I asked.

 

“I don't know, whatever it is it's really hard.”

 

We bent down and I used my hand to wipe the dirt and vines off the object. It was pretty long and made out of a silvery metal. The front was glass, but it was fogged up from the inside. It had buttons on the side that had blue characters in them, but in a different language. I frowned.

 

“It almost looks like a cryo sleep pod from sci-fi movies. But that technology hasn't been developed.” I said.

 

“Pidge. We are literally standing only a few meters away from a giant robotic lion with a magic force field.” Hunk said. Shiro nodded.

 

“Well if it is a cryo pod, do you think there's someone in it?” Shiro asked.

 

“Uhh maybe we can try pushing these buttons?” Hunk shrugged.

 

“Worth a shot.” I said. Shiro nodded and picked up a nearby stick while Hunk picked up rocks.

 

I slowly reached out and pressed the biggest button. The glass moved and smoke poured out from the broken seams. We jumped back as the front of the pod opened. I stepped forward to get a better look. There was, in fact, a person inside.

 

He laid unnaturally still in the pod. His light tan skin was decorated with strange blue markings under his eyes. White hair topped his head and it was so natural looking that it couldn't be dyed. A golden band wrapped around his head and held a blue-green gem in the middle. His ears were pointed and had a purple diamond hanging from each. He was dressed in strange black and white armor with blue accents and a strange symbol on the chestplate. Suddenly His eyes fluttered open and he sat up. He saw us and jumped out of the pod. At first His eyes seemed a dark blue, but they simmered with many different shades like deep pools, and in their depths shown a pink that wouldn't have been possible in human eyes. He stepped back and his hand hovered by his side. Then an object that matched his armor appeared in his hand but with a flash of light it turned into a sniper-like gun. He glared through the scope.

 

“Identify yourselves! I am not afraid to fire!” He yelled.

 

“This is Hunk and Pidge and I am Shiro. Who are you?” Shiro put his hands up and looked confidently at the boy. Hunk and I stood nervously behind him.

 

“I am Prince Lance of Altea! What planet are we on? How long have I been asleep?” He yelled, not lowering his rifle. 

 

“This is planet Earth and I have no idea. We came here uhh-” Hunk trailed off.

 

“Looking for Voltron, and we found you.” Shiro  finished.

 

“Looking for Voltron! You're with the Galra!” He bent his knees into a firing stance.

 

Shiro put his metal hand in front of his face, “No! I was captured by the Galra. We are anything but with them.” Lance relaxed. 

 

“So are you interested in getting rid of the Galra?” He asked.

 

Shiro was about to respond but then a deep rumble reverberated behind Lance and he turned. He smiled and lowered his gun.

 

“Hey blue! How you been girl?” Lance grinned and spread his arms.

 

“Is he taking to the lion?” Hunk whispered.

 

“Hey, don't judge the alien space prince.” Shiro smirked.

 

Suddenly the blue lion’s force field went down and the lion moved. Its eyes glowed yellow and the rest lit up as well. The lion stood up and stretched. Lance smiled and walked to the cryo pod. He let go of his gun and it disappeared and with his free hand he picked up his helmet. Behind him the blue lion had laid down and opened its mouth, inside there was a door. Lance faced us.

 

“Who's ready to hop in a space lion and embark on the journey of your lives?” He smirked and put his hands on his hips, his helmet tucked under his arms. It didn't look like we had a choice.

 

“You might be gone for a while though.”

 

Shiro was the first to step forward. He smiled held his hand out. Lance held his helmet in one arm and reached out the other.

 

“I trust you'll fill us in while we go to- wherever we go.” Lance laughed at Shiro’s words.

 

“Of course. It's my pleasure to abduct you.” With that Lance turned and walked into the lion. 

 

Shiro turned to us and shrugged. He walked to me and patted me reassuringly on the shoulder. I smiled up at him. If he thought the little girl was scared he was wrong. I was more than excited. That planet, Altea, Lance called it? If they had made that cryo pod and Voltron, what other inventions did they have? Maybe I could use it to find my family! And if that Altea planet has an alien race, and the, what was it, Galra? There were probably tons of aliens out there! I was ecstatic. Hunk on the other hand, looked like he was about to puke. He probably was. I grinned at Hunk and followed Shiro into the lion. Hunk sighed and mumbled, “I just wanted to get a snack with Pidge and this happened? Ugh.” before following us inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is exciting!   
> We pick up with everyone going in the blue lion.  
> Enjoy!

When we stepped into the cockpit of the blue lion we stopped, awestruck. Glowing consoles wrapped around the ceiling and floors. Holographic panels floated above the consoles and Lance was furiously typing something in. Two blue joysticks appeared out of the ground and Lance grabbed them and the screen covering most of the walls roared to life and showed us the cavern outside. The Blue symbols and circles floated over the screen and adjusted to the light.

 

“Alright, Blue. We're going home. Set coordinates to The Castle of Lions!” Lance shoved the joysticks forward and blue exploded through the cave wall, spilling light into the cavern and bouncing light through the waterfalls witch splashed tiny rainbows into my eyes. The side of the cliff crumbled behind us and Lance maneuvered the joysticks through invisible gears he seemed to know by heart. Blue responded immediately and took off into the midnight sky. We rocketed past the atmosphere. My jaw dropped. The lion circled Earth at insane speeds. Oceans and Continents flashed by us. Lance put his whole self into steering and chuckled with glee.

 

We pulled away from Earth and arrived at Mars less than a minute later. Lance pushed a button and the lion accelerated. A couple sight-filled minutes later I recognised something.

 

“That's Kerberos! It takes Garrison ships days to get out here!” I looked at Lance, flabbergasted. He snickered.

 

“Yeah blue’s pretty awesome isn't she.” He affectionately rubbed his hand on a dashboard. “Alright, get ready for this.” Lance grinned and pressed a large button. A huge black hole with whitish-blue markings around the edge appeared. Hunk covered his hand with his mouth and gagged. The lion flew through the hole and came out in a strange part of space I didn't recognize.

 

“What was that?” Shiro asked.

 

“That was a wormhole. Alteans use a machine called a teledov to make them. Blue had enough energy for a small jump, but we still have a while until we get to the castle.” Shiro lifted his eyebrow and I tilted my head.

 

“Can you explain, like, everything to us?” Hunk asked.

 

“Alright. So. I am Prince Lance of Altea. Alteans are a ‘diplomatic’ race and we strive for peace. Our anatomy is very similar to you Earthlings, other than pointy ears, Altean markings, and for members of the royal family, naturally white hair. There are a whole bunch of races out there, but an important one is the Galra. They are usually lil’ purple fluffy dudes. My father King Alfor was friends with a Galra named Zarkon before some crazy stuff happened and he turned evil. He is now the emperor of this new ‘Galra Empire’ thing that has been killing planets and enslaving people. My father built the five Voltron lions before that, and nothing in the universe comes close to their strength. As you probably know, they can come together to form Voltron, and that's super powerful. Zarkon attacked Altea and the castle tried to steal the lions. My father sent the lions and their paladins away to keep them safe. I was the first to be out in a cryo pod and sent away, but I assume everyone else is safe. My sister Allura does not pilot a lion, but she can control the castleship with Altean alchemy. She can explain better when we get to Altea, so do you have any quick questions?” He had turned around his chair to explain.

 

“Why are you taking us with you?” Shiro asked.

 

“Well before Zarkon attacked, we were looking to expand universal awareness as far as your solar system, so I think you three can help. My father and the other Alteans will love you guys, don't worry.” Lance smiled.

 

“Who were the other paladins?” Hunk asked. Lance frowned.

 

“Now that is a long story. My sister explains better, just know it's complicated.” 

 

“How long to you think you were asleep?” I asked.

 

“I don't know… the pod has the ability to sustain life for over ten thousand years. But I was just in there for the journey to your planet. I doubt it was more than a year. The Alteans would have gotten me already if it had been longer.’ 

 

A look of uncertainness flashed over his face before he smiled again. Then a beeping came from the lion and a circle appeared over a small planet in the distance. Lance turned his chair with a smile, but it quickly melted off his face as he froze. 

 

“W-what? That's not Altea!” He shifted the controls and we flew towards the planet, “but that's the castle… what happened?” His hands shook as he urged the lion closer.

 

We flew down to the planet towards a white castle with large spires. The Castle was set on a grassy plateau sprinkled with white flowers. I could see a small village a ways away with colorful little buildings. Lance landed the lion in a large courtyard in front of the castle. The lion put its head down and Lance flew out of his chair. Hunk, Shiro, and I made eye contact and shrugged. We ran out of the lion after Lance. 

 

Lance pushed open the huge white doors of the castle and ran inside. We followed and came to a huge room. Unlit blue lights accented the pillars of the room and the two cinderella staircases across from the door. Lance had stopped in the middle of the room and we came up behind him. He anxiously tapped his foot and muttered to himself. 

 

Soon a blue laser field started at our toes and moved up the four of us. Lance stood still so we knew it was friendly. When it stopped a robotic voice came through the walls. 

 

“Identified Prince Lance. Welcome back. It's been a long time.” Lance’s face twisted with worry. The erie voice sent a shiver down my spine, as if that laser field was droplets of water, snaking slowly up my body.

 

“Earthlings I apologize. I am freaking out because everything feels wrong. I don't know what's happening and I'm just…” he shivered, “hoping for the best.’ 

 

No one said anything and we all noticed how all of this seemed to be leading up to a horrifying climax. Lance stepped forward and suddenly the lights flew on. Circular blue lights placed at even intervals in the tall walls eliminated the shadows and bathed the room in light. Huge doors opened in front of us and a lighted hallway stood behind it. Lance took a tentative step forward and paused. We knew something was wrong, very wrong. We just didn't know what… yet. Shiro walked to Lance. He placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder. 

 

“Look. We only just met you. You are an alien.  _ But. _ Something happened here, and you seem like a nice person. We're here to help you through this and whatever follows.” Shiro smiled a reassuring smile and Lance gratefully nodded. 

 

Lance looked back at us and and weakly smiled. He stepped forward into the hall with us. We kept walking through the doors that opened in front of us and soon came to a circular room. Lance stepped to the console in the center of the room. Shiro and Hunk inspected the strange circles in the floor in a ring around the console. I tapped the console but nothing happened. Lance kindly brushed my hand away and he placed his hands palms-down. A screen similar to the ones in the lion popped up. He scrolled through some menus and pressed a button. Two of the circles in the floor rose, accompanied by metal screeching and scraping. We cringed at the noise but it stopped when a third circle popped up only a few inches. Lance stood back from the console and we looked at the two tall pods that looked similar to the pod we had found Lance in.

 

“Are those… cryo pods?’ I asked.

 

“Yeah. They should open up soon.” Lance said. I imagined he was desperate to see who was inside and if they had any answers.

 

Just as he said it one of the cryo pods opened. Lance ran forward to catch the person who fell out. A beautiful woman collapsed into Lance’s arms. Her had skin darker than his and not quite as olive colored. White hair like Lance’s surrounded her elegant face. She had a similar gold crown on and the same pointy ears and earrings. Her white, blue, pink, and gold dress hugged her frame and her long sleeves had tails hanging off at the wrists. She slowly opened her eyes and her long eyelashes lifted off her pink markings. Her eyes had the same odd pinkness too them, but even more prominent in hers.

 

“Lance? You're alive?” Her eyes started to tear up and she hugged him.

 

“Allura! I missed you so! How long has it been? What happened while I was gone?” Lance helped his sister stand and looked at her with fear-filled eyes. 

 

She sucked in a shaky breath, “Things got really bad after we sent you away. The green and yellow paladins, they didn't make it. I don't know about red.” She met Lance’s eyes and he but his lip at those words, “all of the Lions were sent away, then father put me in a pod. I-I don't know what happened after that.” Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as I watched the alien siblings try to comfort each other. They glanced over at the second pod just as the front shimmered away.

 

Inside was a man with ginger hair and a fabulous moustache. His alarming blue eyes started off into the distance before he started to fall and they moved again. He stumbled to his feet and held his hands in front of him. 

 

“Don't worry your highnesses! I! Coran! Will protect you!’ The man jumped at Shiro but tripped on his feet and fell. Shiro caught him before he fell.

 

“Coran! It's okay. These are friendly humans from Earth!” Lance said. The man, Coran, stood and brushed off his blue, white, and gold, clothes.

 

“Ahh yes, I knew that. I was just testing out the ol’ legs. Sorry if I scared you humans.” Coran twirled his moustache and tried to lean his elbow on the console, but missed and fell in the floor. Allura and Lance laughed before they remembered the circumstance and their faces fell.

 

“Coran, do you know what happened?” Allura asked.

 

“King Alfor’s plan was to send all the lions and their paladins to far away planets to keep them out of Galra hands. Lance and the blue lion were successfully sent away when things started to go wrong. The Galra started taking Altean hostages and the royal guards abandoned the castle to protect them because they thought we still had Voltron. That was a foolish move because the worst of the Galra fleet was yet to come. The green and yellow paladins gave their lives to ensure the safety of their lions and the red paladin barley made it out with his life.

 

Alfor locked the black lion in the castle and put the princess in a pod. I went to try to get the castle’s defenses working, and soon after I failed Alfor told me I must take the castle away. The Red paladin was nowhere to be seen. Alfor left to use his fighting skills to defend Altea and sent The Castle away with myself in a pod. We were shooting away and the last thing I saw before I froze was our precious Altea being blown up by the Galra. We are the last Alteans. Altea is gone.” Tears brimmed in all of our eyes and Lance had started crying around when Coran said the red paladin was missing.

 

“I... wh-when? h-how long?” Lance asked, tripping over nearly every word. Allura took his hand and wiped her eyes with the other.

 

“How long were we asleep Coran?” She asked, not really wanting to know the answer. He stepped up to the console and scrolled through some different screens before his eyes widened and his jaw went slack.

 

“We've been asleep for ten thousand years!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's excited for season 7 tomorrow!!!  
> This chapter is longer and has a lot of backstory in it, and was fun to write my own version of the original paladin story!

“We've been asleep for ten thousand years!” Coran shouted.

We all gasped. The Galra Empire had been around for over ten thousand years. This Altea planet has been gone for ten thousand years. Lance, Allura, and Coran were over ten thousand years old. I looked at the people around me.

Shiro’s eyes were like dark clouds. Grey and dreary, filled with grief, but with an air of danger about them, as if they could strike with angry lightning at any moment.

I looked to the familiar eyes of Hunk, which usually shown with happiness and excitement like a wet stone on a sunny day, but were now dulled and lacking in positivity.

Coran's electric blue eyes had lost their spark and stood dull like the stark cobalt color of the sky before a storm.

The pink and blue in Allura’s eyes was slim in contrast to her dilated pupil. What I could see of her irises looked dark with sadness but also bright with surprise.

And Lance. The happy pink tinge that one rested in the ocean blue depths of his eyes was gone. Instead replaced with deep pools of blue that held too many emotions. These emotions piled out of his irises in crystal clear tears that made me wonder what was going on inside his head.

I hadn't noticed I was crying until a rogue sniffle escaped my nose and echoed through the room. Soon my tears had soaked into my sleeve and I was looking yet again to the Alteans. My breath hitched imagining what it would be like having just woken up from a forced ten thousand year slumber and finding out I was one of the last humans and Earth was gone. For ten thousand years at that.

“I am immensely sorry for you three. But I have a question. Could we possibly use Voltron to take down the Galra and avenge Altea and all of the other lives they have taken?” Shiro looked at the Alteans with a kind look, but and aura of firmness and leadership swarming around him.

“Yes. I do suppose that you three would make excellent paladins. And we have Lance, so we would just need to find one more person capable for the position.” Allura said. She let go of her brother's hand and flicked the tears from her shining eyes.

“We can take down those foul Galara and spread peace throughout the universe!” She shook her fist in front of her and confidently smiled. For some reason, Lance started sniffling at this.

“You know there is a possibility that there are good Galra.” He quietly said. Allura ignored him and walked to Shiro. She took his hand and held it in the air, as if announcing him victor of some game.

“Now! Follow me to the bridge and I can tell you of the original paladins!” She ran off through the door, still gripping Shiro’s hand. Hunk started to follow and I as well.

I paused when I got to the door. Lance stood in the middle of the room sobbing. Coran walked to him and put his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Is he really gone?” Lance asked. He must be upset about his father.

“I would think so Lance. But as I said, I only noticed his disappearance before your father shoved me in a pod. I never saw a body.” Coran responded. I was confused. They must be talking about that red paladin. But why did Lance care? And how did Coran know that Lance meant him?

“Do you think he might be alive?” Tears still steamed down his face, but a pink glimmer of hope shined in Lance’s eyes.

“Would you like me to scan the remaining pods for any life?” Coran asked. Lance gripped his sleeve and nodded.

Coran walked to the console and pressed a button on the first screen and there was a mechanical whirring and then a ding.

“Well quiznack! Look at that!” There is someone… Lance it's him!” A anguished cry escaped Lance’s lips and he ran to the console.

“Which one? Wake him up already!” Lance’s face was covered in teartracks but an excited smile adorned his lips.

“Alright Prince. But you do know-”

“I know. We’ll deal with that later. I just need to see his face.” Coran pressed the button and the same metal screeching and scraping from before happened, but louder and it didn't stop. “Coran! What's happening!” The room has started shaking with the vibrations of the sound and the pod that was only a couple inches out of the ground was causing sparks to fly. Lance fell to the ground and covered his ears.

“The pod seems to be stuck. It can't get out. I'm going to have to stop it or it will tear the castle apart!” I could barely hear Coran through my hands clamped over my ears and the mechanical creaking.

“No! He's so close! I can't lose him!” Lance was crying harder now.

“I’m sorry your highness.” Coran hit the same button from before and it all stopped. Coran had a single tear on his face and looked guilty. Lance was sobbing in the floor. I was confused. Why did Lance care about this guy? Coran walked to Lance and sadly smiled as he patted Lance’s back as heart wrenching sobs wracked his body.

“He is right h-here! I miss him!” Lance cried. Coran awkwardly rubbed his back. Maybe this boy Lance was crying about was his brother? No. If so Allura would have cared as well. Maybe a childhood friend?

“It’s alright Prince. We'll find someway to get Keith out.” Coran looked at Lance’s red face. Lance seemed to relax a bit at the mention of the name.

“I’ll give you some time. See you on the bridge.” Coran started to walk to the door and I realized I was eavesdropping. I turned and started to walk to the bridge when I remembered I didn't know my way around. Hallways twisted and turned as my feet led me away from an awkward situation. Ugh. Social interaction. Suddenly I heard Coran behind me and I stopped.

“Hello small human! Are you lost?” He asked me.

“Uhh yeah. Could you help me? And my name is Pidge.” I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck.

“Coran. At your service Pidge.” He bowed and started walking the opposite direction I had been going.

We walked through some halls before we came to a large room with console surrounding the edges and a raised platform in the center. A huge blue crystal hung from the ceiling above the platform and the majority of the walls were covered in a dark screen. Hunk and Shiro stood next to Allura and she saw us and waved. She sent a confused look to Coran and he slightly shook his head.

“Hello Coran! Hello Pidge!” Allura said with a smile.

“We filled Allura in on our names and a little about ourselves.’ Hunk said.

“Hello other humans, friends of Pidge!” Coran said, twisting his moustache.

“Hi Coran. I'm Shiro and this is Hunk.” Shiro stuck out his robotic hand to shake.

“Wow! This hand of yours is marvelous! Galra made it?” Coran asked, not shaking but instead inspecting Shiro’s hand. Shiro winced and nodded.

“Alright. Now that we have all of you here we can start the legend of Voltron.” Allura said. She stepped up on the platform in the center of the room and raised her hands. Two pillars rose from the ground to meet Allura’s hands and the middle of the platform rose a bit higher. The room's lights dimmed and glowed a soft blue. Holographic stars rose out of the consoles and floated towards us. They first wrapped around Allura, shining stars and constellations on her skin like colorful freckles. Then the stars surrounded all of us, creating a dome of infinite cosmos around us. Allura continued.

“Quintessence, it's the fabric of the universe, life itself. We all run on quintessence. Many years ago, before I was born, my father, King Alfor of Altea, was friends with all. There was universal peace, apart from the occasional small mutiny. King Alfor was part of a peacekeeping group with four others. The group was my father, Zarkon, and three others called Trigel, Blaytz, and Gyrgan. They roamed the universe stopping uprisings and protecting people.

“One quintant, a comet crashed into the home planet of the Galra, Dibazaal. Altean scientists and alchemists studied the comet, led by the top alchemist, Honerva. She discovered that the comet was a trans-reality comet, something that could jump the gap between realities. And in between those realities was unlimited quintessence. My father took the comet back to Altea to experiment, while Honerva’s team stayed on Dibazaal to experiment on the rift that the comet had left behind.

King Alfor used the comet to make five lions, black, green, red, blue, and yellow. While experimenting with the lion’s abilities he felt a connection to the red lion. He discovered that the lions were alive and you did not choose the lion, the lion chose you.” During the story Allura had moved her hands and aided her words with holographic images. Sometime into the story Lance had walked in, face clean but eyes slightly red from crying. He stepped up on the first platform and joined his sister.

“Over time, King Alfor brought his friends to the lions and they all connected. My father in the red lion, Zarkon in black, Trigel in green, Gyrgan in yellow, and Blaytz in blue. However, they did not know the lions could come together to form Voltron. They flew in their lions and used the abilities to protect people.

But one day on Dibazaal, a creature came out of the rift. Honerva kept the creature to study it, while Alfor thought the creature should be killed and the rift closed. Suddenly, many, many creatures flew out of the rift and started to attack. The Galra quarantined the creatures, but it wouldn't hold for long. If they escaped, the Galra forces would be quickly overrun. The paladins rushed to Altea to get the lions. They returned to Dibazaal just in time. The lions started to attack the creatures to no avail. Suddenly, the paladins felt something, and flew in formation and then they created Voltron! Voltron quickly defeated the creature and saved the Galra homeland. Under the symbol of Voltron, the universe united and there were no fights. The paladins didn't see each other for decaphebees.” We were all sitting on the floor listening to them talk. Coran was in the corner on one of the consoles.

“Allura, the humans don't understand Altean time, use this.” He said. With a flick of his wrist he sent a holographic chart over to Allura and Lance. Allura started to continue the story.

“Over the…” She looked at the chart, “years. The paladins continued with their lives. I was born, and then Lance, and Honerva and Zarkon got together. Alfor went to visit Zarkon and Honerva, and he realized that Honerva’s experiments were going too far. She had become obsessed with quintessence and Zarkon wanted to use Voltron to go into the rift to harvest the unlimited quintessence. Alfor refused. One… day, Honerva fell ill. She had gone mad, only thinking about quintessence. Zarkon came to my father and asked him if they could use Voltron to close the rift. My father agreed, he had wanted that for a long time.  
  
“The paladins formed Voltron and entered the rift. Little did the paladins know, Zarkon’s real plan was to exit his lion and revive Honerva with the quintessence. But the creatures were soon upon them and the remaining paladins had to take them and leave the rift. With Zarkon and Honerva unresponsive, my father evacuated the Galra and destroyed Dibazaal, closing the rift forever.” Allura nodded to Lance and he took over.

“Zarkon and Honerva were presumed to be dead, so the Galra were homeless and leaderless. My father decided that it was time to bring together a second generation of paladins. That's where I come in. I was walking through the castle one day when I felt pulled to the blue lion and then it responded to me. I was only around eighteen years old. Blaytz, the former blue paladin, trained me, but he fell ill and died soon after. My father found a red paladin candidate in a boy not even a year older than me named Keith.” Lance's voice cracked and he nodded to Allura, turning away and massaging his temple as if he had a headache.

“Keith was a hothead, but and amazing boy at heart and a perfect red paladin. While Lance and Keith were being trained, Coran, Trigel, Gyrgan, and I looked for new black, yellow, and green paladins. I did not pilot a lion because I had a gift for Altean magic and flying the castle.” Lance pushed Allura, interrupting her.

“Oh stop bragging!” He joked and she glared a him.

“Anyway, we were taking a day off training when Zarkon and Honerva woke up from the quintessence coma. Zarkon was furious at my father for destroying Dibazaal, and he wanted the Voltron lions. He launched the attack on Altea and as you know, my father's plan was to put Lance, Keith, Gyrgan, and Trigel in pods inside their lions and send the lions away just in case. We put Lance in a pod and sent blue away. Gyrgan and Trigel died after they sent their lions away. They didn't make it because there needed to be someone to manually send the lions away and there was no one else around. My father put me in a pod after that, but Coran says that the red lion had been sent away by Keith and he was missing. He most likely died, but no body was found,” Allura said and Lance winced, “my father put Coran into a cryo pod and sent the castle to Arus, where we are now. My father and the rest of the Alteans died in the attack, but the Voltron lions were saved.” She finished. With a wave of her arms she sent the star maps to the edge of the room, making me feel small and insignificant compared to the infinite universe.

“Now. We must finish what the paladins started. We must complete the second generation of Voltron paladins and save the universe from the Galra!” She pumped her fist in the air and beamed at us. Shiro returned the smile. Allura splayed her hands in front of her and soon a holographic image of a yellow lion appeared.

“Hunk. The yellow lion is the kindest and puts others first. You will be its pilot. You, along with Lance, are the legs of Voltron, and you will support the team.” Hunk looked surprised, his golden brown irises glittered then filled with excitement.

“Pidge. You are inquisitive and curious, the green lion will surely accept you as its paladin. You shall be the left arm of Voltron, and help save the universe.” My eyes widened in surprise. Me? A pilot? A paladin of Voltron, awesomest machine in the universe?

“Shiro. The Black Lion is the head of Voltron. The leader of the team. You will be the leader of the team and black paladin.” His slate grey eyes glinted with hope. I figured he must be resentful towards the Galra for abducting him and taking his arm.

“The green and yellow lions are on peaceful planets. Hunk will  
go with Coran to retrieve the yellow lion and Shiro will accompany Pidge to get the green one. Shiro, the black lion is in the castle, and will only unlock when all the other lions are present. I cannot locate the red lion right now, so Lance and I will stay here and try to locate it.” Coran walked up to us and started to lead us somewhere while Allura and Lance hovered around the screen, talking about something.

“Alright you three! Follow me to the pods and we can get you set up to go!” I followed Coran, butterflies in my chest. I was going to pilot a lion! Maybe I could find my family myself instead of waiting for them to come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter had a lot of alien words in it, so feel free to comment if I spelled anything wrong.  
> Next chapter will be Lance point of view!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooo Lance Point of View!  
> Sorry this is a little late, I was out of the country and just found time to update.
> 
> TW- a little angst nothing much

Lance Point of View

 

As soon as Coran and the others left, Allura turned to me with a solemn look on her face. I sighed, I could sense a sisterly lecture coming on. Her primarily pink eyes had a steeley firmness to them that she rarely let show.

 

“Lance. Look. I know you miss Keith but you need to get over-”

I cut her off.

 

“Allura no. Coran scanned the other pods. He is in one of them. He’s alive.” I said, “If we could just-”

 

“Lance no. I'm not risking damaging the castle, it can't be replaced.” Allura said.

 

“And neither can Keith!” I yelled.

 

“Well even if we could get him out what would we do about him being-”

 

“Is that all you think matters! Surely they will be able to see past it.”

 

“No! Face it Lance. Unless an absolute miracle happens we're- no  _ you're _ not getting him back! “ She yelled. I winced at her raised voice and bit my lip.

 

“He is the best red paladin! Father said it himself! You would probably care more about that than my feelings!” I screamed in her face. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise and then her eyes filled with guilt. She softly placed her hand on my shoulder.

 

“Lance wait- I-” I cut her off and threw her hand off my shoulder and stormed off through the metal halls. 

 

My feet still knew their way around and I soon arrived at my room. The robotic sliding doors opened and I stepped inside. I figured the castle must have sensed my anger because the doors shut a little extra hard. Then I started peeling off the ten thousand year old paladin armor that had been practically plastered to my body. My closet opened next to me. I threw my armour in a heap on the floor and picked out some clothes. In my drawers I found some of my old clothes. There was a bunch of fancy Prince diplomat stuff but then there was also a couple of white sleeveless shirts and short blue shorts. I pulled on the latter or and slammed my closet door. In the mirror I saw myself. Tufts of white hair were sticking out everywhere and my skin was dry. My eyes were puffy and red from crying.

 

I reached up and wiped away my hot angry tears only for them to be replaced by a faucet of sad ones. Then Allura‘s words rang in my ears again. Maybe I do need to get over it. My eyes strained from the effort of holding back tears and I sighed. I decided I needed to get some sleep so I sat in my bed and started to look for my sleep mask. The drawers of my bedside table were a mess so I was digging through a drawer when I saw it.

 

I froze when I saw the picture and soon a new flood of tears were pouring down my cheeks. A few sobs escaped my lips as I clutched the picture to my chest. It was the last picture we took before the attack. The picture showed Keith and I smiling at the camera. His dark hair was mixing with my white strands as the sides of our faces pressed together. Our eyes held laughter and we looked so happy. If only we knew what was coming. I put the picture down and traced the blue lines and swirls on my arms in an attempt to calm down. It was unsuccessful and I just sobbed into the photo. If Allura or Coran had heard me, they would have carried on, figuring I wanted to be alone. People always thought I wanted people to go away when in reality I wanted to opposite. I just needed to be loved. I just don't want to be alone. 

 

***

 

_ “Keith, do you think we'll ever-” I started, but was cut off my the castle alarm and all the lights flashing red.  _

 

_ Keith, Trigel, Gyrgan, and I sprang of the lounge couch and started running to the bridge. Allura, father, and Coran were hovered over a screen with anxious expressions. Outside I could see fires and purple lasers destroying the Altean gardens surrounding the castle. _

 

_ “What's going on?” Keith yelled over the crashes and screams from outside. _

 

_ “The Galra are here!” Allura yelled in a panic. _

 

_ “We refused surrender and now they're destroying the gardens as a threat.” Coran added. _

 

_ “The castle weaponry can handle them, it's only a single fleet. We must send the lions away, they cannot risk falling into Galra hands.” Father finished. I could almost hear blue's voice in my head. ‘Send me away? Is that really a good idea?’ _

 

_ “Father no! We need the lions to defend Altea!” Allura objected. _

 

_ “No Allura, live to fight another day, we'll be fine.” He persisted. _

 

_ “Father! Don't be a coward, the lions can do this! We have good paladins!” Allura angrily stomped her foot. _

 

_ “Speaking of the paladins, send them away too, keep them safe.” He mumbled to himself. “Paladins. Get to your lions, there's an emergency cryo pod in there. I'll send coordinates to your lions, put the pod on the cockpit, and set course for the planet. Activate the cryo sequence and we'll come to get you when this mess is secured.”  _

 

_ He waved his hands and we started running, already in our paladin armor from training earlier. Trigel and Gyrgan started the slightly longer trek to their lions in the left bays and Keith and I ran to the right. When it was time for Keith and I to split I clenched my fists. I was having a minor panic attack. What if this wasn't okay? I shook it off and Keith started running to his farther away lion. _

 

_ “Don't get hurt mullet!” I called. _

 

_ “No promises!” _

 

_ I knew that was just Keith being Keith but that phrase sent a chill down my spine. I would probably be the first to reach my lion and get sent off so I would have no way to know if the others were safe. But they were strong. They would make it. Right? _

 

_ With a shake of my head I dismissed the thought and climbed into blue. I easily found the cryo pod the sat in my chair. Blue welcomed me and the coordinates from father instantly popped up. Using my shaking hands I flew blue out of the bay and the atmosphere and into space. She got the memo and started to fly to the planet herself. _

 

_ It was going to be a long journey and who knows how long I would be in here so I hopped into the pod. It sensed my pulse and gave me the internal control menu. I picked cryo sleep over healing and I was informed it would take several ticks to get started. These pods were designed for emergencies, so they could be started from the inside but once you were frozen, you had no way of getting out on you own.  _

 

_ My fingers and feet lost feeling and my arms were getting stiff when I started to panic. I want out. I want out. I want out. But there was not getting out now, I needed to calm down. I took the deepest breath I could with my freezing ribcage and closed my eyes. Comforting memories of my mother and my friends drifted by as I listened to my own heartbeat stop. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing! Thank you for every comment and kudos each one means a lot.
> 
> Next chapter is back to Pidge!  
> See ya!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting so much positivity from this work and it makes me smile sooo much!! Thank you to anyone who has left a comment or kudos it brightens my day!
> 
> This chapter is back to Pidge and I hope you enjoy!

Pidge Point of View

 

Artificial space light seeped in between the crack of my eyelids and I pulled my blanket to cover my eyes. After the crazy events of yesterday I had come back to the castle and I had almost fallen asleep in the cockpit of my lion. Oh yeah, I got the green lion! Shiro and I had gone to a really cool planet after Coran set up a pod for us. On the planet there was a huge temple with vines all over it, with the green lion inside. I was having some self esteem issues, but Shiro helped me through it and I got the lion. We came back and Allura told us that she almost had the location of the red lion, and she would work on it tomorrow and Coran would help us with team-bonding exercises. Lance was nowhere to be seen, but I was too tired to care and fell asleep immediately after Allura showed me to my room and I collapsed on the bed.

 

I groaned and rolled out of bed. My clothes from yesterday were wrinkled and I honestly wouldn't have cared if I were not in the home of a magic space princess and prince. There was a tall door in the corner of the room and I walked to it. It slid open and it seemed to be a closet. A cabinet of drawers was in front of me and I opened the drawer to reveal several sets of my clothes. I was a little disturbed at first but I tried a set on and it fit. They were probably for me, so I just went with it. When I stepped out of the closet the door slid shut, and then a speaker came out of the wall.

 

“Paladins! Oh, paladins help! Zarkon is here! You must hurry!” Allura yelled. I started running out my door and heard some muttering from the speaker.

“Oh no! Princess Allura! Her head is gone! Look there's blood everywhere! Help paladins!” Coran's voice shrieked.

 

I rounded the corner and came into the bridge. Allura and Coran stood near Allura’s platform and Shiro stood near them looking slightly amused and annoyed. I stood next to him and wiped off my glasses. Hunk came through the door in pajamas looking tired. We waited for Lance in silence for about a minute before he waltzed in wearing a blue robe and lion slippers. He held a cup and was drinking something and his face practically glowed. We all started and he cocked an eyebrow.

 

“What, you think that I actually would participate in one of Allura’s lectures? Not of my own free will.” He sipped his cup. Allura rolled her eyes.

 

“Paladins. That was awful. If Zarkon was here, we would all be dead. So, to fix that today we will start your physical training. Please return to your rooms and prepare for breakfast.” Allura turned and the dress she was wearing from yesterday twirled behind her.

 

Hunk looked at me, “Can you believe this is happening?” He rubbed his eyes and started to walk to his room. I yawned. Shiro smiled at me and then walked out the door. Lance walked to me.

 

“Well, see you soon Pidge, sorry you had to wake up to Allura’s yelling. You’ll get used to it.” He laughed it seemed a little choked up though, but I just giggled.

 

“Thanks Lance.” I smiled. I started to walk through the tall doors when I heard a sniffle. Behind me Lance stood holding a small piece of paper like a photo and holding back tears. Before I could do something, he inhaled and put the photo away. My feet carried me out the door before he could see me.

 

I trudged through the castle halls to my room. Quickly I sat on my bed and pulled out my computer and connected it to a panel on my wall to start downloading data. Just then I saw four colored mice run under my bed and I hear Allura shout.

 

“Mice! Hello? Where are you?” She yelled. Then she popped her head into my window and looked at me.

 

“Are you looking for some colorful mice?” I asked. Part of me expected her to laugh, but her eyes glowed and a smile spread across her lips.

 

“Yes! They were in my cryo pod, so I think we have a mental link! I can hear them talk to me and I was heading to breakfast when they ran away.”

 

“Oh, well they went under the bed.” The mice ran out from under the bed and into Allura’s hand. She held the other out to me.

 

“Would you care to walk with me?” She asked. I hesitantly placed my hand In hers. My lips curved up as she smiled at me.

 

Allura tugged me off the bed, and led me down the hall to a large room with a long table and a kitchen in the corner. Coran was setting plates of green goo on the table. He looked up at us and smiled through this moustache.

 

“Hello Allura and Pidge! I am just getting the table ready for breakfast. Have a seat.” Coran gestured at the chairs and plates.

 

“I SMELL FOOD!” Hunk ran in the room yelling. Allura laughed.

 

“I am pleased that you are so excited to try the most common Altean food, affectionately called food goo!” Allura held up a plate of this ‘food goo’ Hunk involuntarily cringed. It looked unappealing close up.

 

“Allura don't torture our guests before I get here!” Lance stood dramatically in the doorway, arms spread to the side. Lance wore a white shirt and blue short shorts. He had a army green jacket with a white hood and his feet were bare and with his legs exposed you could see the blue swirls and lines in a similar color to the markings on his face decorating his skin. Then I noticed how his right hand was riddled with red lines, much like henna from earth.

 

Shiro had been standing behind him, it seemed as if they had spent some time together and had bonded.  He ruffled Lance’s white hair, much like the action of an older brother. Lance laughed and then came forward and sat. We took the hint and all sat.

 

“Well I hope you enjoy food goo.” Lance sarcastically said. Allura sent him a glare.

 

I plopped a spoonful of food goo into my mouth and chewed it. It was like a softer version of jello. There were no words to describe the taste, and it was subtle but oddly appealing. We were only eating for a minute or two when I realized something.

“Allura, how can you understand us? All the castle controls are in Altean, so how can we talk to you?” I asked.

 

“Well first of all, since Alteans are a diplomatic species, we can naturally adapt to and understand any language. But since others cannot understand each other’s languages my father invented a translator chip. We duplicated the chips and them across the universe at no cost. Coran, go get some now.” Coran stood and walked out of the room.

“Yesterday when Coran said how long you had been asleep I'm positive I heard the English word year, so how did you understand?” I asked.

 

“Well Coran had been researching the English language before the attack, so he just said your English word and Lance and I understood.” She responded.

 

Lance shifted next to me, his silly attitude disappearing as he put the white hood of his jacket up. His fingers traced the blue swirls on his skin, his fingers following their path perfectly, as if he was all too familiar with it. Lance’s lips parted and a quick puff of air escaped. The metal table caught his head as he let it fall. Allura sent him a worried glance before looking to Coran, who had just entered the room holding a white and blue box filled with tiny metal squares.

 

“Here you go princess. A good ol’ box of trusty translators.” Coran plopped the box on the table and the chips rattled around inside.

 

“Do you think they still make them?” Hunk asked.

 

“Oh of course. The whole universe has been making these guys for years. The universe wouldn't be able to communicate if it weren't for the chips.” Coran said, waving a metal square back and forth.

 

“Paladins, would it be alright if you took a chip? You don't really have a choice though, if you're going to save the universe you'll need to understand.” Allura said.

 

“How do we take one?” Shiro said holding the chip Coran had given him.

 

“You put it in your food goo and munch it up!” Coran said.

 

I placed the chip into my food goo and took a bite. The strange taste and texture of the goo covered the chip and I barely noticed it go down. Allura kept looking at Lance and opening her mouth to speak, but closing it soon after. I couldn't stand the awkward silence so I spoke.

 

“Allura, Altea sounds like and amazing place, could you tell us more?” Honestly I just wanted to know about the amazing inventions they must have had, and then thousand years ago at that!

 

“Could you tell us about the culture? No. What was the best food?” Hunk asked excitedly.

 

“Well, Altea had lots of food other than food goo, and the best of it was at the union ceremony.” Allura paused and Lance lifted his head. “The best dish of the a union was the Oriane. Oriane was a huge dish meant for many people, it's sweet with an even sweeter colored layer on top. An Oriane had several layers decorated with flowers and sometimes a miniature version of the unionees on top.” Allura finished. Hunk's mouth was watering and Lance's lips held a bittersweet smile.

 

“What is a union ceremony?” Shiro asked.

 

“A union ceremony is a very special Altean tradition. It takes place when two people fall in love and promise themselves to each other. It's especially important to Alteans because of a thing called love lines. Love lines happen when an Altean falls in love, with another Altean or not, and are a sign of true love. Whenever an important romantic moment or milestone happens, the Altean will get a love line. They are the same color as Altean markings and appear all over the body.

 

“When the couple has their union ceremony, both partners, again, both Altean or not, will get a union mark. A union mark appears on you in the other person’s color. They appear in the same place on each person and the marks glow the combined color when touched. I myself never had a union ceremony, but I've been to a few for people I knew.” Allura ended with a smile. A cold aura radiated off Lance and he rested his forehead on the table and was looking down.

 

“That sounds a lot like the Earthly marriage idea, and an Oriane sounds like an awesome space cake!” Hunk pumped his fist in the air. Shiro and I laughed.

 

“What are we doing today princess? We are starting training right?” Shiro asked. Allura side glanced at Lance and bit her lip in the slightest.

 

“Yes Shiro. I think you all are ready. Coran and I will keep searching for the Red lion. Lance? Will you show your fellow paladins to their armour and bayards?” Lance rubbed his eyes and sat up.

 

“Yeah, just let me get mine out of my room first.” He stood and pushed in his chair.

 

“Alrighty paladins! You ready to harness your inner fighter and take out some gladiators!” Coran did some chopping motions with his arms and yelled. He then twirled his moustache. "Although they may kill you frist… Oh just kidding they shouldn't kill you! Probably.” Coran laughed and Hunk looked mortified.

 

“Alright my pala-dudes! You ready to almost get killed!” Lance yelled from the doorway where he stood in his paladin armor.

 

“Lance, just show them to the training room.” Allura asked through her teeth. Lance chuckled.

 

“Alright. Let's go guys.” Lance motioned us out of the room and down the hall.

 

His carefree attitude seemed forced and almost as if he used the jokes to cover something up. Lance seemed so distant at breakfast, and Allura seemed so uncertain and unable to talk to him. I pushed the question s and theories to the back of my mind and wondered about how we were going to fight, but mostly the hope that Lance knows what he's doing and won't get us killed before I could find my family.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao this chapter is low-key filler it's just some fighty fighty I'll have the next chapter up very soon :)

We followed Lance through the castle to a large empty room. Across the room there was an empty doorway that lead to a smaller room. In the room there were five cryo pod shaped pedestals, but these had transparent glass and in three I saw suits of armor like Lance's, but in green, black, and yellow. When I looked closer at the green suit I noticed how tall it was. Hunk groaned from across the room. He had also noticed how the suit did not match his body. Lance nodded reassuringly and motioned for us to open the cases. I took it out and the black fabric and white and green plates moved and bended in my hands. I grabbed my armor and headed into the bathroom across front the door. My clothes slipped over my head and ankles and I changed into the bodysuit and then layered on the plates. The fabric fit perfectly and stretched over my body with ease.

 

I stepped out of the bathroom with my helmet under my arm. Hunk and Shiro had also changed and held their helmets. Lance smiled and tapped something into the panel on the wall. A rectangular pedestal rose from the ground with two objects on it. Lance summoned his weapon from before and placed it on the table. The other two objects were the same as his, but in yellow and green rather than blue. 

 

“These are your bayards. The traditional weapon of the paladin. It takes a different shape for everyone, so you will soon see the perfect weapon for you.” Lance said. He picked up the two bayards and gave them to Hunk and I.

 

“Shiro, the black bayard was lost when Zarkon got corrupted, so we don't have a bayard for you. But, I think your hand…” Lance stepped to Shiro and pressed on one of the plates in his robotic arm. His hand turned bright white and slightly purple and radiated heat. Shiro looked surprised.

 

“Oh! It's like your hand turned into plasma! Can you trigger it with your mind?” I stepped closer to Shiro and looked at his arm. Just as I got a good look, he deactivated it and it returned to his normal robot hand. 

 

“I guess I can.” Shiro said while flexing his hand and fingers. Lance grinned.

 

“Spectacular! We have weapons! Now let's get training!” Lance clapped his hands and walked out into the larger room. 

 

We all stood in our armour and holding bayards in the center of the room. The room was primarily white with tall arched ceilings. There was a circular panel on the floor, but no immediate threats. I cocked looked at Lance for an explanation.

 

“Well. Here is the training room. You can do a team fight or solo. There are ten levels, one being the easiest and ten being the hardest. The way to defeat the gladiator is once you've done enough damage to hit it in the head, and if it doesn't turn off you known you need to do more damage. Here's how you do it.” He paused.

 

“Start team level one.” He pulled out his bayard and it transformed into his rifle.

 

Lance bent his knees into a stance just as the sequence started. A tall drone rose out of the circular panel and pulled out a sword. It had a single eye in its forehead and was gold and yellow. The drone focused in on Shiro and he activated his hand. They fought but soon Shiro started loosing. I didn't know what would happen, but I held up my bayard all the same. It transformed into a small green v-shaped beam of plasma. Part of me hesitated, but my instincts took over and I tried to throw my bayard. Instead of it leaving my hand, the beam just extended along a wire and flew towards the robot. 

 

The beam wrapped around  the gladiator and pulled me towards it. I lost my footing and got tied around the drone with my arms pinned to my sides. Shiro tried to free me all while dodging the gladiator's sword attacks. Hunk turned on his bayard and it changed into a large bazooka kind of gun. He closed his eyes and started to fire. My eyes widened. Hunk was going to hit us.

 

Just as the laser pellets were about to hit us, Lance rushed in from where he had been watching. Shiro had just freed me, so there was room for Lance to rush in and kick the robot’s legs out from under it and shoot it in the eye five times, disabling it. Milliseconds before the bullets would have melted through my skin, Lance raised his arm and a translucent blue shield expanded from his wrist. 

 

I surveyed the scene. Shiro stood with his knees bent and his hand out in front of him. Hunk had just stopped firing and opened his eyes, Lance just  stood calmly protecting Shrio and I. And lastly I had fallen on the floor, my bayard wire in a tangled mess around me. Lance sighed.

 

“Well at least it didn't kill you.” We laughed. 

 

“Was that good?” Shiro asked, not seeming hopeful at all.

 

“Yes actually! You all felt why it was like to be at the liberty of the team. Shiro, in the beginning the gladiator would have overthrown you if it hadn't been for Pidge. Pidge, how did you feel when you were tied up around that robot?” 

 

“I felt pretty scared, really. Never before have I held a weapon and fought someone. And when I couldn't free myself, I was just hoping it would turn off.” I said.

 

“But then Shiro saved you, did that make you feel better?” I nodded. “And then Hunk. Hunk, why ever would you think it would be a good idea to close your eyes and fire your shoulder cannon in the general area of your friends?” Hunk grimaced after Lance finished.

 

“Ah, that. I uh well… I'm still pretty hungry, and I got a little nervous, soo… Yeah.” Hunk scratched the back of his neck. We laughed.

 

“How did you get the gladiator to turn off? I asked, “I don't think we did enough damage.”

 

“In emergencies the gladiator can be turned off by hitting it five times in the eye.” He told us.

 

“Lance, may I try fighting it myself?” Shiro asked. Lance nodded.

 

“Start training level one.” Then we ran off the arena into the gated off side part. 

 

The gladiator rose from the ground and locked its eye onto Shiro. Shiro raised his plasma hand and braced himself. The drone raised its sword and started to run to Shiro. Just before the drone collided with him, Shiro jumped out of the way and hit it from behind. After the drone regained sight of Shiro, they became locked in combat. A sword scraped off Shiro's armor, a hot gouge in the drone's side. Many attacks just barely missed but a few hit home in each side. The drone kept going, but Shiro was growing tired. Attacks just kept coming, and Shiro couldn't avoid them all. I felt my hands grip the rail and my knuckles turn white. My eyes focused on Shiro as he danced around the drone, and suddenly he slid between its legs. Shiro came up behind the robot and hit it on the head, disabling it. His body remained right as he stood there trying to catch his breath. Hunk started clapping.

 

“Wow! Good job Shiro!” Hunk said. 

 

“I must say, that was excellent work for your first day of training.” Lance said.

 

“Thank. You.” Shiro got out between pants.

 

“Hunk or Pidge, would either of you like to try?” Lance had turned to us. Hunk shook his head and held his hands in front of him.

 

“Nope. Nope. Nopety nope nope. Maybe later, but now I'm going to see if I can get more of that food goo.” Hunk turned and left, his bayard disappearing as he turned the corner.

 

“No thank you actually, I would like to try to hook my computer up to the castle and mess with the systems I guess.” I said. Shiro nodded and Lance shrugged.

 

“Suit yourself. I think Coran can help you, he is the castle mechanic you know.” I nodded in thanks and started to walk to the door. Shiro and Lance were talking about various fighting strategies while my bayard vanished. I walked through the spindly halls and grinned to myself. Think about my family's faces if they could see me now.

>  


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW- slight angst
> 
> Pidge finally realizes something a few of you have already figured out, and the team can finally start the mission to get the red lion!

I woke up to darkness. My computer had long since turned off I woke up to darkness. My computer had long since turned off after I had fallen asleep on top of it.  All the lights were off in the hallways so I figured everyone was sleeping. I rolled out of bed and stretched. Several cracks met my ears and I stood up and turned on my light. A stab of pain shot through my stomach as I realized I had never eaten lunch and had slept through dinner. The door slid open and I walked into the hall. My footsteps softly echoed through the hallways as I walked through the kitchen. I walked past the cryo pod room and heard a muffled cry.

 

In the room Lance lay on top of the pod that held this so-called Keith. Perplexion hit me as I thought. Why did Lance care so much about this Keith guy? He wasn't lonely, he had Allura and Coran. Just as I was about to leave Lance started mumbling.

 

“Oh, Keith. Why is this happening. I was so afraid You were dead. But you're not. Then I had hoped I could get you out, but I can't.” Lance paused to wipe his tears. “Keith, I miss you. Why won't this stupid thing work? I need him. Please.” Lance pounded his fist on the floor. “You have to come back. Please. Come back to me, I love you.” Lance finished in a whisper and collapsed on the ground in a pile of tears.

 

I only had a little time to ponder what he said before realization hit me in the face like a brick wall. This is why Lance cares so much. This is why he has the marks Allura doesn't. This is why Lance was crying in the floor. Lance and Keith were married.

 

I clamped a hand over my mouth and held back tears. My hands started to shake just thinking about if my entire planet and almost my whole species were gone,  but my spouse as well? Waves of sympathy washed over me as I watched Lance cry. I tore my eyes away and headed into the kitchen. The hose squirted food goo into my bowl and soon I was sitting at the counter, silent tears rolling down my face. I remember the day Matt and Dad left, I remember being so sure that I would see them soon. My memories showed a clear picture of Shrio taking Matt’s hand and following my dad into the ship. The setting sun casting an orange glow on the scene. I remember how my arm hurt from waving goodbye even when the ship was long gone. My heart hoped they were alive, somewhere. Shiro was, so shouldn't they be too? I refused to ponder it and sent my bowl away.

 

Off through the dark halls I walked, and quickly to my room. Extra blankets lay in a pile on the floor so I grabbed a soft one and took it out of the room. When I got to the cryo pod room, I peeked in and saw Lance asleep on the floor, just as I expected. I silently stepped up to him and laid the blanket over top of him. He whimpered slightly in his sleep and curled into a fetal position. Soon enough I was out the door and back to my own. The doors swung open with a mechanical whir and I went to my bed before collapsing. I curled the blankets around me to a nest and closed my eyes. Dark thoughts started to creep in and I started to hum the lullaby that my mom used to sing when I was young. The soft shift in the tones soothed me and reminded of good times. My conscious drifted off and the tune faded away.

 

***

 

When my conscious returned I kept lying in the warm covers and did not open my eyes. The soft warmth of the blankets encased my body and I nuzzled I to it. My eyes soon peeled open and I sat up. I swung my legs off the bad and walked to the closet.  There I found a fresh set of clothes and changed into them. Through the door I could hear my friends talking outside so I headed out.

 

“Hey guys! What time is it?” I asked.

 

“We were just getting ready for breakfast. Allura also said she found some information on the red lion.” Shiro smiled.

 

“She considered telling us about it last night, but important stuff is always better over food.” Hunk said.

 

We heard a yawn and then we saw Lance walk out of the cryo pod room, in his usual blue shorts and jacket, but his white hair messy and sticking out everywhere. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and smiled at us.

 

“Morning team! Did you all sleep well?” He asked

 

“Yes Lance, I had a pretty restful sleep.” Shiro said. He looked a bit confused on why Lance hand been in the cryo pod room, but we all were a little confused about Lance, so he decided not to ask.

 

“I had some dreams about that Altean space cake.” Hunk said, mouth watering.

 

“Well I woke up once because I was starving, but otherwise pretty well.” I laughed. “What about you Lance?” I asked.

 

“I didn't sleep so well, I had a few nightmares so I decided to work on castle repairs starting with the cryo room, but then I fell asleep in there.” Lance smiled. I could tell it was forced. “It was probably a bad idea to interrupt my beauty sleep.” He winked and we all giggled.

 

We entered the dining area and sat at the table. Allura was sitting there with her hands folded and a grin showing her teeth. Her face softened when she saw a happy Lance, she really did care for him.

 

“Good morning everyone! I have some much needed good news.” She smiled. We turned to face her. “Today I will be working on repairs of the castle, but we also have the location of the red lion! It is very nearby so Lance will be going to get it because he has prior experience with the lion. Shiro? Will you care to accompany him?” Allura asked.

 

“Of course princess. Will we be able to open up the black lion today as well?” He asked after smiling at the royal siblings.

 

“No, were not exactly how long the repairs and the mission will take but it's probably best to wait until tomorrow.” Allura responded.

 

“What are Pidge and I going to do?” Hunk questioned Allura.

 

“You two are pretty good with tech right? You are going to stay here and help Coran and Allura with repairs and system checks.” Lance chimed in.

 

“Yes! It will be wonderful having the extra hands to help out!” Coran yelled from the food goo room. He soon came into view holding three bowls in each arm, desperately trying not to drop them. With only a little help he made it to the table set down the bowls full of goo.

 

“Will you ever make any other Altean food?” Hunk asked, obviously trying to be nice.

 

“Yes! It will be my honor to make you the paladin lunch today!” Coran exclaimed, throwing his arm into the air. Lance looked horrified for a moment before putting on a fake smile.

 

“Awesome. So what exactly are we doing for the mission?” Shiro asked.

 

“You and Lance will be infiltrating a Galra ship that holds the lion. Luckily the ship is close by so it won't be so far to have to carry the red lion in its force field.” Allura answered. Shiro nodded.

 

“What are we going to help you guys fix?” I asked.

 

“You two are going to first help the princess and I run some checks and scans on the castle. After the scans the systems will update and we can make any needed repairs.” Coran answered.

asleep on top of it.  All the lights were off in the hallways so I figured everyone was sleeping. I rolled out of bed and stretched. Several cracks met my ears and I stood up and turned on my light. A stab of pain shot through my stomach as I realized I had never eaten lunch and had slept through dinner. The door slid open and I walked into the hall. My footsteps softly echoed through the hallways as I walked to the kitchen. I walked past the cryo pod room and heard a muffled cry.

 

In the room Lance lay on top of the pod that held this so-called Keith. Perplexion hit me as I thought. Why did Lance care so much about this Keith guy? He wasn't lonely, he had Allura and Coran. Just as I was about to leave Lance started mumbling.

 

“Oh, Keith. Why is this happening. I was so afraid You were dead. But you're not. Then I had hoped I could get you out, but I can't.” Lance paused to wipe his tears. “Keith, I miss you. Why won't this stupid thing work? I need him. Please.” Lance pounded his fist on the floor. “You have to come back. Please. Come back to me, I love you.” Lance finished in a whisper and collapsed on the ground in a pile of tears.

 

I only had a little time to ponder what he said before realization hit me in the face like a brick wall. This is why Lance cares so much. This is why he has the marks Allura doesn't. This is why Lance was crying in the floor. Lance and Keith were married.

 

I clamped a hand over my mouth and held back tears. My hands started to shake just thinking about if my entire planet and almost my whole species were gone,  but my spouse as well? Waves of sympathy washed over me as I watched Lance cry. I tore my eyes away and headed into the kitchen. The hose squirted food goo into my bowl and soon I was sitting at the counter, silent tears rolling down my face. I remember the day Matt and Dad left, I remember being so sure that I would see them soon. My memories showed a clear picture of Shrio taking Matt’s hand and following my dad into the ship. The setting sun casting an orange glow on the scene. I remember how my arm hurt from waving goodbye even when the ship was long gone. My heart hoped they were alive, somewhere. Shiro was, so shouldn't they be too? I refused to ponder it and sent my bowl away.

 

Off through the dark halls I walked, and quickly to my room. Extra blankets lay in a pile on the floor so I grabbed a soft one and took it out of the room. When I got to the cryo pod room, I peeked in and saw Lance asleep on the floor, just as I expected. I silently stepped up to him and laid the blanket over top of him. He whimpered slightly in his sleep and curled into a fetal position. Soon enough I was out the door and back to my own. The doors swung open with a mechanical whir and I went to my bed before collapsing. I curled the blankets around me to a nest and closed my eyes. Dark thoughts started to creep in and I started to hum the lullaby that my mom used to sing when I was young. The soft shift in the tones soothed me and reminded of good times. My conscious drifted off and the tune faded away.

 

***

 

When my conscious returned I kept lying in the warm covers and did not open my eyes. The soft warmth of the blankets encased my body and I nuzzled I to it. My eyes soon peeled open and I sat up. I swung my legs off the bad and walked to the closet.  There I found a fresh set of clothes and changed into them. Through the door I could hear my friends talking outside so I headed out.

 

“Hey guys! What time is it?” I asked.

 

“We were just getting ready for breakfast. Allura also said she found some information on the red lion.” Shiro smiled.

 

“She considered telling us about it last night, but important stuff is always better over food.” Hunk said.

 

We heard a yawn and then we saw Lance walk out of the cryo pod room, in his usual blue shorts and jacket, but his white hair messy and sticking out everywhere. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and smiled at us.

 

“Morning team! Did you all sleep well?” He asked

 

“Yes Lance, I had a pretty restful sleep.” Shiro said. He looked a bit confused on why Lance hand been in the cryo pod room, but we all were a little confused about Lance, so he decided not to ask.

 

“I had some dreams about that Altean space cake.” Hunk said, mouth watering.

 

“Well I woke up once because I was starving, but otherwise pretty well.” I laughed. “What about you Lance?” I asked.

 

“I didn't sleep so well, I had a few nightmares so I decided to work on castle repairs starting with the cryo room, but then I fell asleep in there.” Lance smiled. I could tell it was forced. “It was probably a bad idea to interrupt my beauty sleep.” He winked and we all giggled.

 

We entered the dining area and sat at the table. Allura was sitting there with her hands folded and a grin showing her teeth. Her face softened when she saw a happy Lance, she really did care for him.

 

“Good morning everyone! I have some much needed good news.” She smiled. We turned to face her. “Today I will be working on repairs of the castle, but we also have the location of the red lion! It is very nearby so Lance will be going to get it because he has prior experience with the lion. Shiro? Will you care to accompany him?” Allura asked.

 

“Of course princess. Will we be able to open up the black lion today as well?” He asked after smiling at the royal siblings.

 

“No, were not exactly how long the repairs and the mission will take but it's probably best to wait until tomorrow.” Allura responded.

 

“What are Pidge and I going to do?” Hunk questioned Allura.

 

“You two are pretty good with tech right? You are going to stay here and help Coran and Allura with repairs and system checks.” Lance chimed in.

 

“Yes! It will be wonderful having the extra hands to help out!” Coran yelled from the food goo room. He soon came into view holding three bowls in each arm, desperately trying not to drop them. With only a little help he made it to the table set down the bowls full of goo.

 

“Will you ever make any other Altean food?” Hunk asked, obviously trying to be nice.

 

“Yes! It will be my honor to make you the paladin lunch today!” Coran exclaimed, throwing his arm into the air. Lance looked horrified for a moment before putting on a fake smile.

 

“Awesome. So what exactly are we doing for the mission?” Shiro asked.

 

“You and Lance will be infiltrating a Galra ship that holds the lion. Luckily the ship is close by so it won't be so far to have to carry the red lion in its force field.” Allura answered. Shiro nodded.

 

“What are we going to help you guys fix?” I asked.

 

“You two are going to first help the princess and I run some checks and scans on the castle. After the scans the systems will update and we can make any needed repairs.” Coran answered. "Let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: sorry to any of you who read the version in the chapter that repeated itself that was a mistake!! The next chapter will be up in a few days!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sort of filler, but with some subtle important stuff
> 
> next chapter is Lance Point of view and is a really good one! was exciting to write so will be up soon!

We finished our goo and after we cleaned up Shiro and Lance said their goodbyes and left. Coran beckoned us down the hall to the bridge and opened up a console. His fingers glided over the keys and another menu opened up and showed an image of the castle with many buttons to the left and right.

 

“So, as you know, the castle doubles as a space exploration vehicle, and to reach some of the tricky places we will need to launch. It will easier to do external repairs and you will get some practice moving around with no gravity!” Coran clapped his hands and smiled through his moustache, “Princess! Come activate the castle will you?” He placed his hands by his mouth and yelled.

 

Allura entered the bridge and stood on her pedestal. Long dark fingers fell upon the two controls and her long eyelashes touched down on her face. The huge crystal above her lit up and Hunk and I ran to the window as the castle rumbled and slowly lifted off the ground. Tiny pebbles cascaded to the ground below us and the grass in the field rippled and waved. We accelerated and shot up into the sky. The castle made it into space and entered free float. Aurus looked much smaller and the tiny villages had faded into little colored splotches folded into brown mountains and green fields. Stars twinkled in the distance and the nearby Sun churned with heat and fire. The bridge was lit with faint blue light and the soft glow of space. Allura stepped down off her platform and came over to the screen with Coran.

 

“Okay, first we have to scan the entire castle. While Coran and I do that you two will go fix any issues that come up.” She said, “Here, would you like to scan the green turret, Pidge?” 

 

I frowned, “What is the green turret?” I asked.

 

Allura spun the holographic castle so we were looking at the top, “There are four turrets, plus the point on the main part of the castle. The four turrets are the hangars of the lions, and the black lion’s is in the middle. So, the top left one is the green turret because that is where the green lion goes in Voltron.”

 

“Oh, I see. Can I scan green's hangar?” I responded.

 

“Go ahead!” Allura chimed.

 

I reached out but then hesitated. All of the button labels were in Altean. While the translator chip did work for oral words, it couldn't translate the words I read. 

 

“Um, which one is it?” I asked. 

 

Coran chuckled and pointed to the sixth button down in the list on the left. I pressed it and the green turret turned from blue to yellow and made a pinging sound. It simmered and went on for about twenty seconds before flashing red displaying a message in Altean. 

 

“What does it say?” Hunk asked.

 

“Hmm. ‘hatch clogged’.” Coran said.

 

“Hunk, Pidge, go get you armor and access the comm through your helmet,” Allura said.

 

Hunk and I nodded in unison and turned to leave. I walked to my room and Hunk went to his. When I got to my room the doors slid open and I grabbed my bodysuit and slipped out of my clothes and into the slim black suit. Afterwards, I stuck the armor plates onto myself. I pressed the side of my helmet and put it on. A click sounded and signaled that the comm was on.

 

“Ah, welcome Pidge!” Coran’s voice chimed through the comm into my ear.

 

“You too Hunk!” Said Allura. 

 

“So how do we get to the green turret?” I heard Hunk's voice ask.

 

“First leave your room and go out into the hall,” Coran said.

 

My door opened as I neared it and I stepped into the hall and waved at Hunk, who had also just come out of his room. Then a red arrow pointing left appeared in my helmet visor.

 

“Then follow the arrows!” Allura finished.

 

The comm clicked and Hunk looked at me and shrugged. I jogged up to him and we followed the arrows through a couple of turns and arrived in a large room with a tall ceiling and my lion sitting in the middle. Upwards was a large hatch big enough to the green lion to fit through. On the far wall, there was a double door filled with transparent glass that gave us a view of a chamber with more doors on the other side. These doors were also transparent and showed us space outside. Hunk clicked his comm on and spoke.

 

“Pidge and I are in the green lion's hangar, what now?”

 

“Head over to the airlock on the other side of the room and go in. Then activate the full visor on your helmet.” Allura said.

 

Hunk followed me as I started toward the airlock. The first set of doors opened, we walked in, and the doors closed again. I slid down my full visor and looked out the window. Below I saw the other turrets and the planet Aurus in the distance. 

 

“Go ahead and grab onto the bars in the side of the airlock. Brace yourselves paladins, we’re about to open the airlock!” Coran exclaimed.

 

I tensed up and I clung to the bars but I was too late and the vacuum of space sucked me out. My fingers stung from being ripped off the bars and I tried to grab something but my little body tumbled out of the airlock to quickly for me to think. Luckily the room had a tiny atmosphere so after all the air flew out the vacuum stopped and I was left floating freestyle in space. I had a moment of serenity as I slowly drifted and the light from the sun rolled into my eyes. Clouds drifted slowly around planet Aurus and stars twinkled all around me, making my inner child want to reach out to the stars.

 

But I knew that in reality, all those stars were probably dead by now. Then I realized my situation, that I was slowly getting further away from the castle with nothing to get me back. I saw Hunk, and his face full of fear and started thrashing.

 

“Allura? Coran? Help!” I shouted into the comm.

 

“Pidge. Pidge. PIDGE!” Allura yelled. I stopped freaking out.

 

“Just activate your boosters Pidge, the ones on the back of your suit,” Coran said matter-of-factly. 

 

“What? We have boosters?” Hunk asked, “How?”

 

“Activate them with your mind, like you would with the comm,” Coran answered.

 

I imagined a booster on my back separating into right and left, and then both turned on. My boosters did turn on and I rocketed towards the ship. Hunk also turned on his boosters and left the airlock. There were a couple of minutes of flying into the castle wall, and each other, before Hunk and I finally were able to control ourselves. We flew up to the top of the green turret and Hunk asked Coran and Allura what to do. 

 

“Well, the hatch is clogged, so you two will need to unclog it. Also, the castle needs time to recharge its power without any systems online.” Coran started, “meaning that the comms will be off except between you two because you are close range.” 

 

“Good luck paladins!” Allura chirped.

 

With a click, the comm turned off and Hunk and I looked at each other and shrugged. I flew to the hatch to inspect it closer. Two large metal doors shaped like semi-circles met in the middle, but dirt and then thousand-year-old grime was encrusted onto the seam and surface of the doors. Hunk flew to the side of the hatch and tried pressing the manual open button. The doors shook and I realized the problems. First, the hard sheet of dust covering the doors was too thick to fit into the sides where the doors would retract. Second, the dirt suck in the seam acted like glue to deal the doors shut.

 

“Hunk look. We should figure out how to get the junk out of the middle first.” I said.

 

“How do we do that?” He asked.

 

“Maybe I can use my bayard like a wedge and cut the gunk out,” I suggested.

 

Hunk have me a thumbs up and I pulled out my bayard. The green arrow-shaped blade glowed in my hand and I shuttered, thinking about what I might have to do with the small weapon. But I knew it would be worth it, to find my family and save the universe. I plunged my bayard into the seam and pulled it down, it was stuck. I yanked as hard as I could but my bayard didn't budge. 

 

“Hunk, um… my bayard is stuck.” 

 

“Can I help?” Hunk asked.

 

I hummed a yes and he moved behind me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and I felt my stomach drop in the slightest. I rolled my eyes at myself and heard Hunk ask if that was okay. I ignored my stomach and gave a firm nod.

 

“Hold on tight to your bayard and make your boosters go backward in the count of three.” He told me, “One. Two. Three!”

 

Our bodies lurched backward and my hands strained to hold on. We stopped moving but kept pulling when suddenly my bayard cut through all the gunk and came out, sending Hunk and I flying backward. 

 

“Well, that worked.” Hunk laughed.

 

I grinned and flew back to the hatch. Now that the crusty grime had been fractured it was easy to chip off the seam between the doors. Hunk was looking closer at the sheet on top of the doors.

 

“So, it turns out that it's not just dirt and dust stuck to the doors, it's actually mostly ice.” He stated. 

“I don't think my bayard can get through that, considering it's ice in space, it will be too stiff for me to cut.” I said. “And I don't want to cut through the doors.”

 

“I have an idea, but it might be a bad one.” Hunk said, taking out his bayard. “If I shoot at the door, the heat from the laser beam should be able to melt the ice temporarily so you could go in and chip away the weak spot.” 

 

“That's actually a good idea Hunk! It could work, but it could also go horribly wrong. I'm getting the feeling that we're going to be doing lots of plans like that.” I laughed. “Let's do it.” 

 

Hunk morphed his bayard into his laser cannon, and aimed at the ice. After he shot a few bullets I flew in and looked at the spot. The ice would have been a liquid, but in space it was more of a warm food goo texture. I quickly swung my bayard and practically shoveled the soft ice off the door and then I got an idea. Instead of just flinging it away I used the warm glob of ice to melt the rest of the ice, so soon enough all the ice was taken off the doors and had frozen back into hard ice, but now in the convenient shape of a ball.

 

“So that actually worked! But what do we do with this?” I said.

 

“Well, it looks really dirty and useless. But it is ice, so we can just throw it towards Arus and it will melt up in the atmosphere.”

 

I shrugged and then grabbed the ice ball. My heart pounded slightly as I flew closer to the planet, starting to feel traces of gravity. I threw the ball as best as I could and watched as it melted up in the atmosphere.

 

“Alright, Hunk. That's all taken care of. You want to see if we can call Coran to see what’s next?” 

 

“Yeah. I’ll do it. Coran?” He said, activating his comm.

 

“Yes, Hunk?” 

 

“What do we do next?”

 

“That's actually it for outside, come in and you can help with some system reboots.” He chirped.

 

We clicked off our comms and flew in through the green hatch, which was now running smoothly.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof finally an update
> 
> This chapter is a big one with out first set of trigger warnings:  
> Minor blood  
> High angst
> 
> Enjoy!

Lance Point of view

 

Shiro and I had not had any trouble at all infiltrating the Galra ship that kept the red lion. There were only a couple sentry drones stationed here and there, so it was just in and out, we were like cool, ninja thieves, apart from the giant hole in the side of the wall we needed to make to be able to get the red lion out. But other than that, super sneaky.

 

I had learned a lot more about Shiro, and we had gotten closer. He was like the older brother I never had, kind of like Allura but without the sisterly lectures all the time. Flying with the red lion took longer than expected and we had missed lunch. Oh quiznack, we had missed Coran’s paladin lunch. Sarcasm intended. I took the liberty to tell Shiro how awful the Paladin's Lunch was, and how he should always avoid it. Luckily I had some food goo packets in the blue lion so we had something to eat. After we dropped the red and blue lions off in their hangars we went to the bridge to see everyone.

 

“Hi Lance, Shiro! Did everything go well?” Allura asked when we entered the bridge.

 

“Yeah, sorry we couldn't get back in time for lunch.” Shiro said, sending a discreet wink in my direction. I smiled.

 

“Oh it's no problem at all! I made the Paladin’s Lunch for dinner!” Coran said.

 

Shiro and I made eye contact and he looked at me in horror. He obviously did not want to have the disgusting monstrosity I described to him.

 

“Well actually I'm pretty tired from the mission, and Shiro and I ate a late lunch in the blue lion, so I'm not hungry. I'll just go to bed if that's alright.” I said, avoiding eye contact with Allura and taking a step back.

 

“If you must Lance. Shiro are you going to join us?” Allura huffed.

 

“I'm pretty tired to so I think I will head to bed.” Shiro said. I could tell he was either trying to make sure I wasn't the only one gone, or trying to get out of the dreaded Paladin's Lunch. Either way, I understood.

 

“Okay. See you two tomorrow.” Allura said, leading Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro out of the room. Coran stayed behind and walked up to me.

 

“So you know we did repairs on the castle today, right?” Coran said. I nodded. “I believe I may have fixed the… problem with the cryo pods.” I blinked for a second but then gasped.

 

“I didn't try anything because I wanted you to be the one to do it.” Coran continued.

 

I had no words. I just bit my lip to prevent myself from crying and hugged Coran. “Thank you.” I managed to choke out. Coran patted my back.

 

“I know Allura says you just needed to move on, and you might hate her for that, but just remember that she is hurting too. She might not have lost someone like Keith, but she has greif too. So, if this doesn't work out, just remember we are here for you and we care.”

 

I backed out of the embrace and held Coran’s hands in front of me. My hands shook slightly as I said another thank you.

 

“I would suggest you wait until everyone else has gone to bed before you try anything, as we don't want anyone to see him and be sca-” I cut Coran off by shaking my head.

 

“I understand.” I said. Coran smiled and patted my back then walked towards the dining hall.

 

I walked to my room, smiling the whole time. It was a dream come true, and although it had only been days since I had woken up and been without Keith, but it was just awful being without him. Having him so close, knowing that he was alive, but not being able to reach him. A tear snaked its way across my markings and over my cheek before falling into my outstretched palm. My breath shook as I inhaled deeply and wiped my cheek. It was all going to be okay, I am going to get him back. I can finally stop crying by the cryo pods, stop hiding my insecurities with jokes, I can have someone to break down in front of and know they wouldn't laugh.

 

But what if it doesn't work? Could some repairs really fix this mess? What was I thinking? More years spilled over my face as I stumbled into my room. Wobbly footsteps carried me to my bed and I collapsed. If this doesn't work I don't know what I will do. I'm tired of holding in my worries, for fear that people will just take my feelings and make fun of me, just like some of my so-called friends back on Altea. But Most of all I miss Keith. I miss his stupid mullet hair, and his pretty eyes I could get lost in. His rash but sweet personality, him always being there for me. Me supporting him and him supporting me. We were a pair, Keith and Lance, but now I might never see him again, and I never got to say a real goodbye.

 

When I was sent away it wasn't supposed to be for ten thousand years, it was only ‘keep the lions safe until the Galra go away’ and Keith and I only shared a quick farewell before he ran off back to fighting and I to my lion and cryo pod. I shifted onto my side and touched my tear-soaked lips, almost feeling Keith's chapped lips. I can't believe myself, I've been let down so many times, why did I let my hopes get up now? A stitch wormed its way into my side as I tried to stifle my sobs. Suddenly I gasped and looked down at my hands. I hadn't even realized I had been clenching my fists and my fingernails had cut into my palms, leaving four crescent moon cuts oozing with blood. Tears started to drip into the cuts, the saltiness stinging the tender flesh. But somehow I didn't even care anymore. I'm so stupid, I can't do anything right.

 

A groan resonated in my throat and I wiped my hands on my armor, the black fabric had plenty of blood stains already. I just can't get get over how stupid it was to get my hopes up. So many people had just used me and then thrown me away, so why shouldn't the fates have a chance too? A particularly strong stab of pain in my chest forced me to take a long breath and think rationally. I remembered what Keith would tell me, just calm down, I was just blowing things out of proportion. It's okay, I'm just blowing things up… just like the Galra did to Altea. I started to break down again.

 

The last train of good thoughts passed through my head, warning me not to do this, and for once I listened. Altea can be mourned another time, I don't have to bear everything at once. Right now I need to go see if I can save Keith.  I stood up and wiped my face then walked to my door. A murmur from outside caused me to stop and listen through the door.

 

“Well it seems like everyone else is asleep. Thanks for talking to me Shiro.” It was Pidge.

 

“No problem, Pidge. I'm always here if you need to talk.” Shiro responded.

 

“Goodnight space dad.”

 

“You too.” Shiro laughed.

 

I could hear two doors open and close and I knew I just needed to stall for a little longer. Soon my armor was over my head and I was back into my regular clothes. Now would be the time to do it, so I opened my door and quietly walked to the cryo room. In the room I saw that the pod that had been stuck a little bit above the floor was flush with the floor, so it must have moved. This a good sign. The console had risen up in the center of the room and the holographic screen popped up when I hovered my hands over it. I selected Keith's pod and then the option to rise it out of the floor. Tentatively I looked over to the pod and was relieved when I saw it come up with no difficulty.  My finger shook over the button and I could hear my heart hammering in my chest. It's going to work. I'm getting him back. I started the unfreezing process and eagerly looked to the pod. A few seconds passed and then a quiet beeping and red flashing drew my eyes to the screen.

 

“Error, heartbeat not found? What? No no no.” I frantically looked for something to help and I held back tears.

 

“No! This was supposed to work! Come on…” My heart sank as the screen reported that it could not sense any of Keith's vitals.

 

I bit my lip and tried harder to hold back tears, but I couldn't help the sinking feeling in my stomach. My head hung and I braced my arms on the console, squeezing my eyes shut and letting out a small sob. I started to hyperventilate and squeezed my fists again, digging back into the sore flesh. But then a green light came up, displaying a message.

 

“Vitals tracked, subject alive. Yes! Yes!”

 

I clicked the final button to open the pod and went right over to it.  The glass shimmered away, revealing Keith. He was still in his Paladin armor, but his helmet lay at the bottom of the pod with a cracked visor. His body wobbled and then fell forwards, and since he was taller instead of me catching him he knocked me to the floor. I shifted a little under him and propped myself up on my elbows. My heart raced as I watched his eyes flutter open and his face twist with confusion.

 

“L-lance?” He asked, his voice scratchy. My eyes watered, he was alive. “How are you-” I cut him off my lips pressed to his, missing the feeling of his dry lips. I broke the kiss and hugged him, burying my face in his neck, dampening the fabric of his suit and the light purple skin of his neck.

 

“Why are you crying? What's wrong?” He said, pulling back and looking me in the eye.

 

“No, no. I'm happy. You're here, I'm okay.” He smiled softly at me and brushed the tears out of my eyes.

 

“I was worried about you, after you were sent away and Zarkon kept attacking. And when the king grabbed me and threw me in the pod I was just hoping I would someday see you again.” He said. “But what happened? How are you here?”

 

“Well first of all,” I said, sitting up facing Keith, “we've been asleep for ten thousand years.”

 

“What.” Keith deadpanned.

 

“After you were out in a pod Altea was destroyed, and only you, me, Coran, and Allura made it out. The castle now orbiting a different planet called Aurus, and I got here because some native humans from the planet, Earth, I was on woke me up and I came here with them. We came to this pod room but yours was broken, and it's been days but Coran was able to fix it and so here we are.” I said. Keith grimaced, showing his pointed canines.

 

“That was a lot, and I think I understand most of it, but why did you bring humans here?”Keith asked.

 

“I barely had the chance to meet them but right away I saw that they would be prefect paladins. And since Gyrgan and Trigel are dead and Zarkon isn't piloting the black lion any time soon I brought them here.” I said, starting to run my finger over the dark marking on his cheek, “Just think of it Keith, we can pilot the lions and form Voltron to defend the universe, just like the old times. We can finally defeat the Galra and go back to helping people.” Keith smiled and hugged me.

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you too.”

 

I helped Keith up and braced him as his legs wobbled with his steps. We walked into his room and I sat on his bed. He walked to his closet and he bent over to pick up his clothes.

 

“Nice view.” I said with a smirk.

 

Keith turned around with a light blush and rolled his eyes. He started to peel off his paladin armor and I stood up and walked to the side of his room where a door had been installed leading to my room next door. I walked through my dark room, only illuminated by the light spilling in Keith's room and went over to my open closet door and slid it shut. Keith came into my room and sat on my bed.

 

“Really? You're wearing that?” I said, looking at his white and red jacket.

 

“It's a nice jacket! And we got it for a really good deal at that market!” He said.

 

“It only covers your arms! And it's nighttime!” I countered, coming over and holding the hem, witch ended at only his rib cage.

 

“Whatever.” Keith said, his pointed purple ears drooping as he crossed his arms.

 

“I love you mullet man.” I said sitting next to him and leaning on him.

 

“Okay leggy.” I gasped dramatically and leaned back, my hand on my chest.

 

“How dare you make fun of these fabulous legs!” I said, stretching out my long legs and looking at the wavy blue love lines all over them.

 

“Your legs are pretty fabulous.” Keith said tracing a finger over a line on my thigh.

 

“You made them that way.” I said with a smile.

 

I took his hand and watched as the red marks on mine and the blue on his turned purple. He grabbed my blanket and pulled it over our legs, and then took of his jacket and threw it on the floor somewhere. We laid down and he gently spooned me and I smiled and moved closer to him, so happy to have him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, updates may be a little slower, I have so many ideas and getting them out and sounding good is tricky!


	11. Chapter 11

Lance POV

 

I woke up with a start, thinking I was falling out of the bed, only to realise I was fine. A small chuckle came out as I thought back to the beginning of me and Keith’s relationship when mullet man mcbedhog would always push me out of the bed. The certain man in question stretched next to me and sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

 

“Morning honey.” Keith said, reaching his arms in the air.

 

“I missed hearing you say that.” I said, mostly to myself. 

 

“I missed you too.” I turned, surprised that he heard me, but then smiled and got out of bed.

 

Keith came out from under the covers and shivered. He reached for his jacket but I swatted it out of his hands and put my long sleeved, paractial, and quite stylish, jacket on him.

 

“You can't wear  _ that _ if you're cold.” I said nudging his jacket with my foot. “Besides, you look hot in my jacket.” 

 

He smiled and grabbed my hand, leading me out of the room. Something seemed to be nagging at the back of my head, but for the life of me I couldn't remember so I decided to let it go. Keith walked into the lounge area and suddenly dipped me pressing his lips to mine. I had no idea what was going on but went along. When he broke away looked at me and spoke in a low voice.

 

“Get me food?” I heaved a deep sigh and stood up.

 

“You are not smooth at all, you know that right?” He was being ridiculous, the lounge, eating area, and kitchen were just one big long room, and you just had to walk past the table to get to the kitchen. There weren't even doors or walls! It was all open concept.

 

“But I'm starving.” Keith said flopping down on a couch and throwing his arm above his head.

 

“Fine. You win this round Keithy boy.” I said, watching Keith sit up and look over the blue marks on his hand.

 

“That's right McLeggy.” We smiled at each other and I started walking.

 

I walked past the table and chairs and into the kitchen where I started to look for bowls. Apparently someone had reorganized the cabinets, and everything was in a different place so I had to get down on the floor and open up all the doors to look for bowls. Finally I found bowls and started on a quest for utensils when I heard shouting.

 

“Who the hell are you! And why are you in Lance's jacket! You're Galra!” I jumped up and saw Shiro pulling the neck of Keith's shirt and holding his activated Galra arm to his neck. 

 

That's what I forgot. I forgot that the humans hadn't seen Keith yet. Ugh, Coran and Allura tried to warn me about this. When Keith started to stutter I snapped into action, running to the lounge room and standing at the edge of the couch. Shiro looked furious and was panting as he glanced up from Keith to me. The whites of Keith's eyes had gone yellow and his pupils had thinned, something that only happens when he was scared or angry. He looked to me, almost pleading for me to help, and he seemed very intimidated by Shiro's hand.

 

“Quiznack. This is not how I meant for this to go down.” I muttered to myself. “Shiro. Let go of Keith. He's the only red paladin we have.”

 

“What? But he's Galra, and Allura said that the whole-”

 

“I know that Allura said the whole Galra race is bad, but she is just bitter that they destroyed Altea. She didn't have a really strong positive connection with any Galra so she can't really see the truth. If you give Keith a chance you will see. You of all people should accept this Shiro.” He let go of Keith and deactivated his hand.

 

“I apologize. I'm Shiro, sorry we had to meet this way. Just, the Galra captured me and took my arm, and I still have some reflexes from when they forced my to fight.” Shiro looked truly sorry and held out his real hand for Keith to shake. Keith's eyes returned to normal and he took his hand.

 

“Keith.” He said.

 

“But really, why are you in Lance's jacket?” We both flushed a little and almost started to respond when Pidge and Hunk appeared in the doorway. 

 

“Woah. Who are you?” Hunk asked.

 

“Holy crow! Are you Galra?” Pidge questioned. The two seemed more surprised and intrigued than angry.

 

“This is Keith. The red paladin.” I said. Just then Coran popped his head in the door and grinned under his moustache.

 

“Ah! Good to see you Keith!” 

 

“Hey Coran.” Keith responded. He looked glad to see a familiar face.

 

Shiro stayed on the couch across from Keith and Coran joined him. Before I could sit next to Keith Pidge and Hunk rushed in and sat next to him, so I sat next to Coran on the other side. Pidge reached up and poked the dark purple stripe on Keith's cheek. Hunk poked the other one.

 

“Your marks are cool. Altean marks are cool too. So why don't you humans have marks?” Pidge said putting her hand down when Keith looked uncomfortable.

 

“Yeah I want cool marks or something. Maybe like fangs, fangs would be cool.” Hunk said.

 

“I have fangs.” Keith said, baring his teeth. Hunk went to touch them but Pidge swatted his hand away.

 

“So Keith, did you know of any other Galra that were good before you were put to sleep?” Shiro questioned. Keith wasn't looking at him and licked his lip.

 

“I'm hungry.” Hunk covered his mouth with his hand and laughed. Keith had obviously not been paying attention.

 

“Wow, Galra Keith is funny.” Hunk said. Pidge was smiling and so was Shiro.

 

“Well then! I shall get some scrumptious food goo!” Coran exclaimed suddenly, making Shiro jump.

 

“Oh, Keith. Hello.” Allura said slowly from the door. I sighed, she had said it was a bad idea to wake Keith up because she didn't want to hurt the castle, but was there another reason? She and Keith had been friends, so why was she so bitter now? “Lance can I talk to you?” I glanced at Keith and his eyes said he would be alright with the humans so I stood and walked to Allura. She led me out of the room. I heard Pidge ask how Keith got here before we drifted out of earshot.

 

“Allura what is up with you? You're acting so weird about Galra. Yes I get that they destroyed Altea, and I am so angry at the empire for that, but Keith didn't do it. You know that.” I said as she led me into a small room with a thin cylindrical console in the center of the room.

 

“Just look at this Lance.” She said, stepping near the console. “Look what I have found.” 

 

Suddenly the room shifted and a white wave of sparkles cascaded from the ceiling and down to the floor. When the sparkles cleared I saw that Allura and I were standing in a vast green field with tall grassy hills behind us. Clear blue skies scattered with wispy clouds spanned above us, but what struck me most of all were the beautiful pink flowers that covered the plain. Juniberries… this looked just like Altea.

 

“This is Altea, the Juniberry flowers, they look so real.” I said breathing in the air, almost hoping I could smell the fresh scent of the flowers.

 

“Yes, I come here often to think. Oh Lance, I miss Altea so much. I miss Father, Mother, everyone in the castle. And we could have it all of it if it weren't for the Galra! How are you not angry Lance?” Her eyes were watering and hands clenched into fists.

 

“Allura, I know you're hurting, I am too. And I know you want to get revenge for what they did, but you must see that not all Galra are bad.” I moved closer to her and put my hands on the sides of her face. She looked up and met my eyes. “There were bad Alteans but our race was still good, and there is hope for the Galra. Keith is good, and not just because he is a part of Voltron, he genuinely believes in our cause. I've seen you in action, I've seen your kindness. It's okay to be angry, just don't let that hate blind you.” Tears dripped down her face and I wiped them with my thumbs.

 

“I want to be kind, I just- I just want to go home.” I bent over to pick a juniberry and tucked it behind her ear. She wrapped her arms around me and I held her close.

 

“I know.” I said quietly.

 

In moments like this I forgot about the stern older sister, who seemed haughty and aloof always telling me what to do, when she was dealing with her own stress too. Moments like these made me feel like we were equals, just siblings supporting each other through life. I slowly ran my hand over Allura's long white hair and over her back, remembering how mother used to do that when we would fall down and scrape our knees. 

 

“I love you Lance, thank you.” Allura said, backing away and wiper her tears.

 

“Me too, just remember that you can still be happy even if bad things are happening. I'm here for you, not against you.” 

 

“And I as well.” 

 

We smiled at one another, and I felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest now that we finally made up. I picked another juniberry and twirled it in my fingers, watching the pink petals flutter. An artificial wind blew, reminding me so much of home.

 

“I miss Altea.” I sighed.

 

“Me too.” A voice that was definitely not Allura's replied.

 

Allura and I both spun around to see who was there and gasped. Sitting there on the lush green grass was a holographic form of our father. It looked just like him, and was holding a juniberry in his hand. He even had weight and flattened the grass beneath him.

 

“Father?” Allura asked. He opened his arms and responded.

 

“It's me.” 

 

Allura ran forward and into his arms, me following close behind. He gently embraced the two of us and told us he loved us.

 

“How are you here?” I asked.

 

“The last thing I did before I died was download all of my knowledge into the castle. My body is gone but it's like I am still here.” He brushed the tears off both of our faces.

 

“Oh father, I thought I'd never see you again.” Allura said.

 

“I'm so sorry I did this to you two. You don't deserve this.” 

 

“No father, you kept the lions safe.” Allura responded.

 

“No no, I should've listened to you, we could have fought the Galra off, even the ambushing fleet. You urged me to fight but I was a coward.” He had a pained expression on his face.

 

“But it's okay father, I brought back humans from Earth who are perfect paladins, we will be able to form Voltron again.” I said. Father's face lost its stress and he smiled.

 

“Have you been here the whole time?” Allura asked.

 

“No, my AI only turned on around when you were making up, witch I'm glad you did, sometimes you two forget you're only two years apart.” Father said. I crossed my legs on the grass and ran my hand over it.

 

“It feels so real.” I said nostalgically. “I remember when we all would come to this very field with Coran and Mother to have picnics.”

 

“Remember the one time Coran tried to balance the basket on his head?” Allura said with a giggle. Father laughed and I grinned.

 

“Or the time Coran took the two of us out and a rock shower started so we had to hide in the cave over there.” I said pointing to a cave to our left.

 

“Ah, yes. I remember your mother scolding Coran for days about checking the clouds.” Father added. 

 

I sighed, somehow reminiscing about Altea didn't make me sad, but it more resolved my turmoil. As if keeping Altea fond in my memories meant I didn't have to cry. It felt nice, allowing myself to be happy, and just be here and share a moment of silence with Allura and father. Soon enough our silence was broken by the loud rumbles of my stomach. Father and Allura turned to me.

 

“Well I never had breakfast.” I said.

 

“Go then, my children. Come back whenever you need. I love you.” Father said and I smiled.

 

“I love you too.” Allura said.

 

The three of us rose and shared a hug before the scenery disappeared and Allura and I were left standing in the empty room.

 

“I'm glad we made up Lance. I hate it when we fight.”

 

“Me too. And I'm glad I could get through to you about the Galra.” I said.

 

“Thank you so much for talking to me, you always were good with words.” She said. I nodded and walked out of the room with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Chapters are going to be in Lance's POV for the most part.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah look an update  
> What do ya know
> 
> sorry for not updating I am having so.e writers block for this story so bleh
> 
> ~this chappie has some adult kissy stuff but nothing explicit~

I swung my arm slightly as I held Keith's hand and walked with our friends to the training room. We walked in the back of the group because Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge didn't know we were together yet and we didn't really feel the need to tell them yet, the team had other things to do.

 

The five of us, along with Allura and Coran, were heading to the training room to do some team building exercises now that we had the whole team together. It would have been a good day to finally try training with our lions, but we had already spent all of the morning and lunch talking with each other about where Keith had come from, basic things the humans would need to know about the Galaxy, and where the team was going after we could successfully form Voltron. So that made today a good day to work on team training. The seven of us entered the training room and Allura and Coran moved to stand behind the half wall and shut the gate. 

 

“So since all of you have grown accustomed to fighting in your paladin armor with your bayards we can take a step forward in your training. You will now practice fighting two of the gladiators.” Allura said.

 

“Yeah I'm excited to see how this plays out! Just remember to protect each other and you shouldn't get too hurt.” Coran said.

 

“Start Team double level one!” Allura shouted.

 

Two gladiators rose up from the floor, blue eyes glinting, signaling their activation. The first to make a move was Keith, raising his bayard into a sword and charging at the gladiator on the right. Shiro ran in to help him and Pidge aimed at the one on the left, tying it up with the string of her bayard. I heard swords clashing to my right and quickly turned to look for Shiro and Keith by my eyes were drawn to the left my a green blur to the left. Turning around I saw the gladiator spinning around in a circle, gripping Pidge’s bayard and trying to pull her off her feet. Raising my bayard I started to take aim at the gladiator's hand, hoping to shoot next to Pidge’s bayard and unhook it. My heart raced with the excitement of battle and I steadied my shaking hands, taking a deep breath, feeling the familiar insecurity of taking a close shot. What if I messed up? Would people laugh? 

 

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and opened my eyes, quickly calculating when to shoot. When the time came I pulled the trigger, watching my laser pellet meet its mark. Pidge's bayard ripped free from the gladiator's hand, causing her to disconnect and crash to the ground. The bullet had gone right through the gladiator's hand and it's arm hung from the damaged shoulder joint and I nodded to Hunk. He sent a quick barrage of bullets to the gladiator's head, deactivating it.

 

“Nice shot Lance!” Hunk cheered. I was slightly surprised by his acknowledgment but smiled and turned my attention to the other gladiator.

 

The gladiator had taken minimal damage, and I watched as Keith almost struck major blows but have to abort to protect Shiro. I knew Keith could take down a level one in under a minute, and could see he was getting frustrated. Keith shielded Shiro again when he got distracted by looking at Pidge falling and crashing into the wall. Shiro looked at Keith and nodded, running over to Pidge. Keith stood taller and parried several attacks from the gladiator, waiting for his chance. Then suddenly he switched his sword to this left hand and slashed its white chest, also drawing its attacks to the left side. Before the gladiator could even realize Keith switched back to his right hand and stabbed the gladiator in the eye, skewering it on his red and white sword. We had been fighting for a while, but on his own Keith took out the gladiator in about a minute.

 

“Nice work paladins! You took out both gladiators and did really well working with each other.” Allura said.

 

The others turned and walked closer to Allura and I looked at Keith and blew him a kiss. He walked up to me and I winked and bumped our hips. He blushed a little and smiled. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it before letting go and joining the others.

 

“You have shown teamwork in the offense, so now we are going to test your defense. You will all stand in a circle facing out and shooter drones will fly around you. Protecting each other will be your primary concern, as if you get hit you are out. But eventually you will have to eliminate the drones of you wish to succeed.” Allura said.

 

“Also, no bayards. Shiro, don't use your hand.” Coran said.

 

“Oh yay, this sounds great.” Hunk said.

 

“It is great! Don't you just looove team bonding!” Coran exclaimed.

 

“Get in formation paladins! Shooter team start!” Allura shouted.

 

We rushed to the middle and got in a circle. I had Shiro and Keith next to me and Pidge was on Keith's side and Hunk on Shiro's.  The circular floating drones appeared in the air and started orbiting around us, and soon the first laser was blocked by Keith's shield. Drones started moving faster and shooting quicker, forcing us to jump, duck, and dodge all while looking out for the team as well. 

 

The first person to get hit was Pidge, who moved to protect Hunk, but he already had the laser covered. And when there shields collided she was too surprised to react to the shot aimed at her leg. When she got hit a hole appeared in the floor and she fell in, screaming. Hunk looked worried and glanced around to see where she was, a rookie mistake, and lowered his shield. It was only after he saw that she was safely on the other side of the barrier did he get hit square in the chest with a harmless laser. Now it was just Keith, Shiro, and I left. We backed up and closed in our circle more before I blocked a shot that would have gotten Keith out.

 

“Did you see that mullet? Saved you again.” I teased, not taking my attention off the drones.

 

“Oh yeah, well I've already saved you at least ten times.” Keith responded playfully.

 

“Guys stop, we need to focu-aahhh!” Shiro tried to scold us but got eliminated instead.

 

“Just you and me Keith.” I said. Jerking my shield up to block a shot.

 

“That would be right Princey.” Keith quickly moved his shield forward, hitting two of the drones and knocking them out of the air. These drones were fast but had almost no durability.

 

“Cover you?” I asked.

 

“Cover me.” He confirmed.

 

I crouched lower and used my shield to protect Keith while he knocked out the drones. He had gotten all but one tricky one when I stood up and bashed the drone away. Coran cheered loudly and we smiled. I grabbed Keith's hand and held in the air and then swung it down as we took a bow. No one noticed that I didn't let go.

 

“Great work not only to Keith and Lance, but you others too! you can learn from Keith and Lance's example, they communicated and worked very well together, aside from the bickering.” Allura congratulated.

 

Keith took of his helmet and flipped his hair, a sight that almost had me drooling. He was so hot. Literally! He only flipped his hair to get the sweat off. I took off my helmet and ran my fingers through my sweaty hair. It was decided that I was in desperate need of a shower and skin routine. While I was thinking everyone else had been talking and now Keith was leading me out of the room.

 

“Where are we going?” I asked.

 

“While you were zoned out Allura and Shiro enthused about teamwork or whatever and Hunk suggested it was time for dinner so we're going there now.” He said.

 

“Sit next to me?” 

 

“I thought that was a given.”

 

***

 

I quickly towel dried my hair and body as I stepped out of the shower and slipped on my blue robe over a pair of shorts. Walking over to my mirror I noticed that the door to Keith's room was open, but I couldn't see him in there. He was probably just doing something so I sat down and opened one of the drawers in my desk and looked for my skin routine bag. Once I found it I placed it on the desk and first grabbed my small plastic headband I used to keep my hair out of the way. Next I applied my face mask, the familiar smooth mixture gliding easily over my skin. I was just about to put cucumber slices over my eyes when I heard footsteps behind me, I spun around.

 

“Hey baby, are you from outer space? ‘Cause your body is out of this world!” I flirted with Keith who had just walked in and was already blushing.

 

“Yeah, well, are you made of black matter ‘cause you're… uh…” Keith shifted awkwardly and squinted at his hand. “Indescribable! You're indescribable.” He blushed and I giggled.

 

“Did you just go somewhere and find a pick up line and write it on your hand for me?” I laughed. 

 

“No.” He said averting my eyes and crossing his arms.

 

“That's adorable!” I said.

 

“You're adorable!” He said.

 

“You're the most adorable.” 

 

“Fine. But you're hot.” He blurted out. I blushed but quickly recovered.

 

“You think so?” I asked slipping my robe off enough to reveal my bare shoulders.

 

“Mmhm.” He said, moving forward and tracing a line down my neck. “You're hotter than any star.” I smiled, when Keith got in the mood he could actually be smooth.

 

“Not so fast.” I teased.

 

I spun my chair around and peeled off my face mask and started to apply lotion. I almost jumped  when I felt Keith's cold hands rest on my shoulders and slowly travel down my sides. When I was done I eagerly turned back to him and pressed my lips to his. He kissed me back and moved his hand to the back of my head. My arms came up and rested around his neck prompting him to pick me up and quickly put me down on the bed. We broke apart to breathe and he looked at me, running his fingers through my hair. I caught his lips again and slowly bit down on his lower lip. He broke the connection and moved down to my collar bone and sucked lightly on the skin. His soft purple fingers moved to my robe and pulled it off my arms. We breathed and smashed our lips together and I tugged on his long black hair. 

 

Keith pulled back I grinned at him, wiggling my eyebrows. He rolled his eyes and kissed me again before a loud knock on my door interrupted us. I jumped up, cursing under my breath. Grabbing my robe and quickly tying it on, I opened the door to Keith's room.

 

“Quick Keith! Go!” I whisper-yelled to him.

 

“Lance?” A voice asked through the door. It was Pidge. I flattened down my hair and wiped my mouth. The door slid open when I laid my hand on the console.

 

“Hey Pidge.” I said, awkwardly leaning on door frame.

 

“So I came here to ask you if- wait why don't you have a shirt on?” She asked.

 

“Because I took a shower, and come on. It's not like I have nothing on.” I said, gesturing to my robe.

 

“Whatever. Anyways, do you know if there's a lab or something in here? I couldn't sleep and was wondering if I could research more about Altean technology.” I now noticed the computer under her arm and how she averted my eyes and shifted her weight, she was lying.

 

“Uh yeah, let me show you. But are you sure? It's pretty late.” 

 

“I know, but I don't sleep much nowadays anyway.” She said and I frowned walking out of the doorway. I beckoned for her to follow me.

 

“You sure you're going to research? You seem pretty troubled.” I looked back at her. 

 

“Well, I wanted to look in the castle records to see if I could find anything about my family.” She said.

 

“Why would they be out here?” I asked.

 

“Well my dad and brother were on the same mission as Shiro but they never came back.” 

 

“Your brother is Matthew Holt?” I asked. Pidge looked surprised.

 

“How do you know he exists?” She asked me.

 

“Oh Shiro told me all about Matt during the mission. And your dad too, but mostly Matt.” I said, Pidge smiled knowingly. “Does that mean your sister is Katie? Shiro said Matt had a sister Katie.” Pidge looked down at her feet but kept walking.

 

“No, I'm Katie. I just changed my name so I could get into the Garrison because they caught Katie sneaking in. I had to get in somehow and I actually feel more comfortable as Pidge. I always hated long hair and dresses.” She said.

 

“How old are you?” I asked.

 

“Sixteen.” 

 

“Oh gosh I only started changing my world when I was about eighteen of your Earth years.” I said laughing. Pidge laughed too.

 

“How old are you now?” 

 

“I'm probably around twenty.” I said.

 

“Well how old is Allura?” Pidge asked.

 

“She's two years older, Coran is, well, old, and Keith is also twenty.” I said.

 

“Let me think, Hunk is eighteen, and I think Shiro's twenty four.” She said. We stepped into the computer hub.

 

“Okay so here we are. These are the most powerful computers in the castle. You know how to hack right? You can probably get into some current records through here.” I said, stepping into the room with several large computers inside.

 

“Thank you Lance, for showing me the computers and talking to me.” She smiled.

 

“No problem. Don't stay up too late.” I said ruffling Pidge's hair.

 

“Okay.” She smiled.

 

I walked out of the room and quickly walked back to mine. Upon opening the door I saw Keith sitting on my bed in only a pair of black shorts, looking at his knife. When he saw me he carefully placed the blade on my bedside table.

 

“Well that killed the mood.” I said, turning off the light and sitting next to him on the bed.

 

“Oh well, we can always continue another night.” He said getting under the covers and laying on his side to face me.

 

“I love you so much.” I said, placing a soft kiss on his lips.

 

“I love you more.” He said, poking my nose. 

 

“Well I love you the most.” I said.

 

He laughed, and it was like music to my ears. In the time I had been without him I had forgotten what it felt like to be with him, how Keith made me feel like something more, made me want to be a better person. And how seeing his dark eyes sparkle like a thousand galaxies, and his laugh that made my heart melt. I sighed and looked into his eyes, and he looked into mine, just content to be here in each others arms. I had at last gotten my happiness back. A soft smile formed on my lips as I closed my eyes and leaned my head on his chest, but his laugh made look up again with confusion.

 

“That was literally so cheesy but I don't even care because I love you.” He said. I jokingly pouted.

 

“You ruined it mullet.” I whined.

 

“Aww come on Lance I liked it. Oh, you have something on your face.” He said and I looked up.

 

“What? I just washed it.” 

 

“It's cute! You have cute on your face! Right here, and here, and here.” I blushed as he poked my face repeatedly.

 

“You make me so happy, Keith, you don't know how happy I am that I found you.” I said.

 

“Me too Lance, me too.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the update (finally)  
> Not sure when the next one will be up but see you then!


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